The Second Generation Book One: Armored
by SixthOfLorien
Summary: Something about Hazel Roberts is all wrong .The Clave have never seen anything like her, and the boy - Jamie Lightwood- who set her house on fire and dragged her into this mess, is no help at all .Placing your trust in those you were born to hate is one thing, but asking for their help is another . One second she was a normal girl .Now she doesn't even know who ..or what, she is .
1. The Boy

"Your late!" Caroline scolded, tossing me the car keys as I bolted down the steps, my curls bouncing across my back as I ran.

"I know, I know!" I snatched the keys from the air, shoving past Mike. He looked for a moment as though he'd say something to me, probably along the lines of 'Good Morning', but I didn't give him the chance.

"Remember to go straight to Melissa's tonight Hazel, no detours."

"Whatever," I grumbled, shooting Caroline a look. I didn't need to be reminded about how much of a troublemaker I was. One teensy arrest and she'd never let me live it down. "I told you that wasn't my fault."

"Yes," she mused, smiling at me and raising an eyebrow. "Your hand just happened to fall into someone's face."

"She was picking on a retarded little boy," I stated matter-of-factly, shoving a muffin into my mouth. "Someone had to hit her."

"My daughter, the hero." Caroline said, pecking me on the cheek and shooing me out the door. I rolled my eyes but smiled anyway, slinging my backpack over my shoulder. Genevieve was waiting for me in the car, her blonde hair washing over her shoulders as she waved me over hurriedly.

"Late!" she yelped, throwing her black Ford Explorer into reverse. I grunted as my chest strained against the seat belt, my backpack slamming against the dashboard.

"Christ, Gen." I groaned, flipping down the roof mirror and digging my makeup back out from the backpack. A pair of dark, nearly black eyes met mine in the mirror above me. Genevieve flickered her blue ones to me.

"Not my fault you can't wake up before seven o'clock." She smirked. I rolled my eyes, applying mascara.

"You're a tool."

"And you have mascara on your cheek."

"Where would I be without you again?"

"In a desolate, desolate place, probably lost amongst the coffee-drinking, no-friends-having wannabe geeks of our generation."

"A lovely display of kindness of Genevieve Harbor, ladies and gentleman."

"I never claimed to be nice!"

That was true, to say the least. Amongst the girls at our school, Genevieve had the reputation of being one of the nastiest to ever walk the hall. It'd be nice to say that Genevieve had a reason to act the way she did, that she had some heart-wrenching story of childhood that had turned her stone cold (At least that was _my _excuse) but no, the truth was that Gen was a bitch. Just a flat-out, gorgeous, bitch. Isn't that how it always goes in these highschool stories?I ignored the thought of it and dabbed a bit of tawny concealer across my light brown cheeks, blood pooling underneath the skin to give me a warm, rosy glow.

Sitting next to Gen was nerve-wrecking, just imagine what it was like to be her best friend! No matter where we went, or what we did, I felt the constant comparison going on through my mind. Our complexions, our hair, our smiles, they were both complete opposites. Gen was, to put it plainly, a white girl, and while I was only half black, I was still five or six shades darker than her. Her blonde hair fell in lush waves over her shoulders, and unless I straightened my own dark tresses, they looped in thick circles down between my shoulder blades, a wild mane. Gen had perfect, flawlessly white teeth. While mine weren't _completely _awful, my left canine rose higher than the others, and they were not perfectly straight. I wasn't _ugly_ necessarily, I just had never thought to believe myself pretty until the boys at school had started telling me so.

We pulled into the school parking lot, Genevieve tossing her hair over her shoulder as she stepped out of the car, a crowd of people greeting us as we met the cool morning air. I grinned cheerfully, playing the part I'd spent years concocting for myself. I was the cute cheerleader. I was the prettiest girl in school's best friend. I was invited to parties, had more boyfriends than I could count, and spent endless amounts of my adoptive-parents' money on clothes I didn't need. I was living the teenage dream. I was living a lie.

I hated almost every single person at this school, and none of them knew the first thing about me.

"Hello, gorgeous." Anthony smiled, his teeth glittering in the sunlight as he threw an arm around my shoulder. "How's my Princess this morning?" God, I hated when he called me that.

"Wonderful," I lied, sliding my hand to his lower back as we walked towards the school. "And how is my handsome Prince?"

"I was thinking of you the second I woke up!" he lied, waving at someone across the lot. Anthony had been saying things of this nature since he'd first became interested in me, and to be completely honest, most of it was only to get into my pants. Apparently whatever was in there was good enough to keep him around, because we'd been dating for four months.

I suppose I should tell you a few things about myself so that you don't feel completely and utterly overwhelmed with my tendency to drop facts on you like _Hey, I'm a huge skank._

My name is Hazel Kyle, and I will turn seventeen in three days. I am not a COMPLETE skank, only a little bit. Only because I haven't had a proper father figure. At least that's what Caroline likes to think. Speaking of her, ignore her comment about the cops earlier, okay? She likes to call it "Being a troublemaker", and I like to call it "Being Adventurous."

My parents both died when I was born. My Mom died in childbirth, and Caroline, my adoptive mother, says I look exactly like her, with dark curly hair and bronzed skin. My Dad committed suicide soon after. We used to live in the country. At least my parents did, when they were younger. They were happy. My Mom was only twenty three years old. I only have one picture of her.

After they died, I moved from place to place. No one had wanted to keep me around for long, and I couldn't blame them. I could never sit still, I was always moving, and after a few years they decided on ADHD as the reason- as if I needed another excuse for people not to want me. Caroline found me when I was eight, digging through the trashcans behind her restaurant., her blonde hair plastered to her concerned face as she called her husband out to help grab me. I screamed. I clawed. But obviously they were able to drag me into the damn place, or we wouldn't be here discussing this story, would we?

To make a long one short, I grew up like any other child would until my sixteenth birthday. I was having nightmares, screaming in the dark, the back of my neck burning as if someone were branding me with a white-hot iron. Every night I'd scream myself awake, run to the bathroom,and there, all over my body, would be a small red marking, repeated over and over again. It would cover me from head to toe, repeated over and over and over again.

It would always fade by morning. Caroline had chalked it up to bad memories, stress and fear of my old families finding me, and so she'd hauled us out to Brooklyn in hopes of starting new.

Anyways, back to being a skank.

I wasn't one, by my friends' standards anyways. I'd slept with more than my fair share of people, yes, I wasn't proud of it, but Gen had doubled my number before she was legal, so who was I to feel guilty? Besides, after years of watching Caroline's marriage, I'd learned one very important lesson: _Love is just a myth. _Men do not fall in love. They lie. They get comfortable. They sleep with woman after woman until they get bored or she ropes him in with money. Either that or the sex is just too good to leave. I have never loved a boy in my life.

I thought idly over this as I stared at Anthony, his cheeks a slight red as we entered the building. Why couldn't I love him? He was handsome, obviously. He was no genius, but he could at least recite his ABC'S...

Joking, joking, my standards aren't _that _low...

But really. He was smart enough to earn a full ride into a nice college for next fall. So what was wrong with me? Why didn't I want him the way I was supposed to?

"New meat." Gen whispered into my ear as she brushed past me, grinning. My eyes flickered behind her into the Guidance office as we passed it. Thick black Converse shoes tapped against the floor impatiently as a tall, lean boy sighed in annoyance. My eyes flickered to his hair first, an odd mix of blonde and fiery red, so thick that it deepened the color to a heavy, glossy bronze. The muscles of his shoulders shifted underneath his black T-Shirt, his tanned fingers roaming through his wavy locks. I narrowed my eyes, trying to get a better look, and in doing so I gracefully tripped over Anthony's sneaker.

"Easy, easy," he laughed uncomfortably, looking around to check if anyone had seen. I let him help me to my feet, glancing nervously to see if the boy had seen me.

He had.

And he was trying (but failing) not to laugh.

I glared at him, but the second our eyes met, his face faltered. His golden, lively, eyes seemed to dim at the sight of me, his full bottom lip falling slightly as his mouth opened to speak.

"What?" I demanded rudely, standing up straight. The boy's creamy cheeks reddened slightly as I spoke.

Anthony laughed behind me as the boy stared. He was handsome, that was for sure.

"I know you." he said softly, his voice dripping through the air like honey.

"Whatever." I grumbled, following Anthony down the hall.

"No, no!" The boy cried, running out of the office. "I know your Mom, I've seen her. The real one."

It was my mouth that fell open this time. Anthony gave me a worried glance as I waved him off, a signal for him to go on to class without me.

"What are you talking about?"

"You have to be Maia's daughter, you look exactly like her."

"How do you know who I am? How have you seen her?"

"She was a friend of my parents'," the boy stated. "She was one of their best friends, they uh...they went through some stuff together."

"And who are your parents?"

"Losers." he laughed. I shot him a look and he rolled his eyes. "Forget about my parents. I'm Jamie Lightwood, at your ever-humble service, Small One."

"I am not THAT short...rude. My name is Hazel."

"Pretty name," he murmured. He raised his arm and scratched the back of his neck, his T-Shirt slipping down his bicep. "I can't believe I found you, this is amazing, this is exactly why I came he-"

"What the Hell is that?!" I demanded, my eyes widening at the sight of the thick black marking that peeked from behind his T-Shirt. His eyes flickered to the inside of his bicep, his arm still raised.

"That? It's an angelic rune, haven't they told you?"

"It's a what?"

"You've seen it before?" He asked, teasing me.

"It's not funny!" I yelled, as he side stepped my attempt to grab him. "Let me see it! I've had it before!"

"No way, your Mom was a Downwo-"

"It's been on my body before, not like that but just a little scar and it was everywhere and-" I was rambling, but I didn't care. Adrenaline was shooting through my veins like a drug and I couldn't stop it. Jamie had my mark. He had my EXACT mark, this angelic rune that had been plastered all over my body every night I'd woken from a nightmare. I needed to know where he'd gotten it.

"You were a lot cuter when you weren't being a brat." Jamie grumbled, raising an eyebrow at me. I shoved at him and he glared, anger flooding his expression.

"Let me se-AGH_HH!"_

Grabbing Jamie's arm had been a huge mistake. The second my skin touched his, our fingers tightened in sync, and we grunted, unable to let go of each other. I winced, crying out as a searing hot pain shot through my arm, the skin two-inches below the inside of my right elbow turning bright red. It was glowing, like fire in my veins, Jamie's angelic rune appearing, small and burning, in the flesh of my arm. I screamed, wrenching my arm away from him as soon as it felt physically possible. Jamie scrambled to his feet as I cradled my arm, my face hot. He eyed me fearfully, a tiny black and silver stele dropping from his pocket as he backed against the wall. All we could do was watch each other in terror as he backed away from me, glancing at his now-bare bicep, no mark in sight. Jamie ran before I could stop him.

* * *

**Ohhhhh boy...can anyone guess who Hazel's real parents were? ;)**


	2. The Scolding

**Just wanted to let you guys know that the story is primarily told from Hazel's point of view, but on occasion we'll see it from other characters. Also, we're not meant to discover what Hazel is right away-the story is meant to keep you guessing! I know it's a tad confusing, but the characters are just as confused as you are right now so don't feel bad ;) Read and Review please!**

***Jamie POV***

* * *

The last enchanted lock had barely snapped shut at the top of the Institute's front door when Ella tugged at the bottom of my black T-Shirt. I raised an arm and looked underneath it into her big green eyes, her wild red curls flying around her tiny round face.

"Excuse me sir, did the magic troll fairies forget to tell you that you needed a password to get in?" she chimed, her voice ringing like bells through the hall. I frowned in mock disappointment, too often I played along with her fairytale games...which I'd found ironic, considering she didn't know a damn thing about the world we truly lived in.

"Why no my Little Princess, they did not!"

"Well," she said firmly, crossing her arms. "There _is _one."

"Is it...Ella?"

"No!" she giggled as I wiggled my fingers at her in a threat to tickle.

"Is it...Little Shadowhunter?!"

"No!" she squealed, giggling as she fell to the floor. My fingers wriggled around her little tummy as she flashed a brilliant set of teeth, her eyes squeezed shut in joy.

"What about...JAMIE IS THE BEST BROTHER OF ALL TIME?!"

"OKAY! OKAY OKAY! That's the password!" she cried, pushing my hands away. I stared at her as she sat up. Even at only ten years old, she looked astoundingly similar to our Mother.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked quietly, smiling.

"You're always in trouble," she said matter-of-factly, pushing a curl away from her face lazily. "Mom and Daddy want to see you."

"Uh oh." I grinned, standing and helping her to her tiny feet.

I sighed as she lead me down the marble halls of the Institute, her hair bouncing along as she ran. The little ringlets reminded me of Maia's. Only an hour ago, I'd finally found her. The Clave had been searching for nearly 17 years, according to Mom and Dad at least. There wasn't supposed to be anything like her, and now I knew why. When I'd first seen her, I was...disappointed, to say the least. She'd looked so _normal. _Not only that, but she'd looked like a damn spoiled brat and acted like it, too. _At least she was cute..._I thought idly, turning a corner. Simon hadn't been lying when he said she'd look exactly like Maia. Even though she was only an infant when he'd last seen her, he'd always said "he had a hunch." Simon always had "hunches."

Her skin was the color of caramel and thick honey, and even though I'd only ever seen a few mixed girls in my life, she was beautiful, and so I'd had to assume that the rest of them in the world were beautiful, too. Simon had once told me something about one of her parents being mixed and the other being fully white or Italian or something- I'd never paid much attention when he talked anyways. The only thing bigger than her hair was probably her attitude, or her big, nearly black eyes. Those weren't Maia's, I'd known that from the pictures, but still...Hazel had a way of staring at you that would either freeze you to your core or melt the skin off your bones, and I wasn't sure yet which one I'd preferred.

My rambling thoughts came to a halt as I swung through the large double-doors of the Library. Mom was in her usual corner, perched on a tiny stool, an ink pen in her hand as she scrawled across the easel in front of her. Dad turned, the usual look of irritation holding his expression as he lazily shut the cover of a book and tossed it on the table, crossing his arms as he faced me. I scratched the back of my neck nervously as he raised an eyebrow, Mom turning to look at me pointedly. Even after three kids she was smaller than a 37 year old woman should've been, her dark red hair up in a knot at the back of her head.

"You're Father isn't happy with you." she said quietly, watching me.

"When is he ever happy with me?"

"Now is not the time to be a smart ass." Dad barked, seething. I narrowed my eyes at him, disbelief flooding my expression.

"Funny you say that considering everyone on this planet says I get it from _you."_

"I am your Father and you deliberately disobeyed me."

"It wouldn't be the first time, now would it?"

"Do you not understand what's at stake here? Your Mother was up ALL night worrying about you."

"Mom is up worrying about me _every_ night, it's her thing." I countered. "Sorry," I added, when she rolled her eyes at me. "You know I have a point."

"You have _no_ point," she countered, raising from her seat and walking over to me, holding my face in her hands. "We had everyone out looking for you."

"Why?!" I demanded, pulling away from her. "I'm not twelve years old anymore! Dad, come on!" I cried, standing in front of him with my arms up. "I'm seventeen! You were the greatest Shadowhunter of your generation when you were my age and you've taught me everything I know. Even you said I could be the greatest of all ti-"

"Yes! I said you could be the greatest of all time, that is _if _you live long enough!"

"JACE!" Mom cried, throwing a book in his direction. He dodged it with each, picking it up from the floor and flipping through the pages.

"Hamlet," he murmured. "Not my favorite." I sighed and resisted the urge to hit something. This wasn't fair. I'd been doing this for years, sneaking out, making my way into the armory and taking whatever I could find, killing demons on the fly as if it were a sport. Although it was nothing compared to the way he was treated as a child, my Father was exceptionally hard on me, training every day for hours on end, sometimes the nights blending into mornings and mornings blending into afternoons without either of us realizing it, and because of this I'd turned out exactly how he hoped I hadn't: I'd turned out _just like him._ I was fast. More than fast, I was _extremely _fast, and strong, and because more blood than usual for our kind ran through my veins I was twice the Shadowhunter anyone on this Earth could ever HOPE to be. I was incredible, and here my parents were acting like I was Ella's age.

Mom rolled her eyes in extreme irritation.

"Shadowhunters die and go missing all the damn time," I grumbled. "I should be no different."

"But you _are _different," Dad growled firmly, crossing his arms again."You're a Lightwood."

"You're _our son_," Mom corrected, tugging at my arm so I'd look at her again. "Our only son, and we won't lose you. We love you."

"Which is why we're grounding you." Dad cut in.

"WHAT?!" I cried, watching as Mom strolled back to her seat. "This is BULLSHI-"

"Language!"

"Sorry Mom. Dad, come on!"

"There will be no cumming on anything-"

"Jace!"

"Sorry, Love, I couldn't help it," he laughed. "Anyways, it's your own fault. You shouldn't have been sneaking out past curfe-"

"CURFEW? SHADOWHUNTERS DON'T HAVE CURFEW."

"They do when they're underage!"

"Oh come on there is no such thing as underage in our world."

"Do you suppose we should let Ella stroll about the streets in search of the undead, then?" Mom piped up, focusing on her drawing once more. I rolled my eyes.

"That's different. She's ten. Besides," I countered, hopping over one of the many cluttered desks and into my Father's path as he tried to flee the scene, "I found her."

"Found who?" Mom asked, turning to look at us.

"Hazel. Hazel Roberts."

Dad nearly tripped over himself and Mom suddenly had a hard time keeping her balance on the stool...both of them looked like panicked geese.

"YOU WENT LOOKING FOR HER?!"

"Dad, I-"

"WE SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU NOT TO GO NEAR HER!" Mom cried, charging over to me, her fury burning almost as red as her hair. Ella snickered in the background, delighted to see me getting chewed out as I backed away quickly with my hands raised.

"No, if you would just listen to me-"

"LISTENING?! WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT LISTENING?" Dad demanded.

"Apparently a Hell of a lot more than you!"

"To Hell with it," Dad cried, throwing a bunch of loose papers into the air and sinking into a leather chair. "Give up, Clary. Our son is an absolute madman."

"Apple doesn't fall far from the tree..." she grumbled.

"Would you guys just _look!_" I demanded, raising my shirtsleeve. Dad looked at me like I was retarded, not understanding what he was supposed to be staring at.

"He's lost his damn mind." he grumbled as Mom narrowed her eyes.

"Jamie," she said warily. "Where's your angelic rune? I drew it for you only a few days ago."

"_Exactly._" I breathed. "_I have no idea."_

Dad shot out of his seat and watched as Mom examined my entire bicep, searching for the mark that she'd never find.

"Impossible." Dad said quietly. I shook my head.

"The second she touched me it's like we couldn't let go. We grabbed each other and she literally _took _my mark, it just disappeared and burned into her skin."

"That's impossible." Dad murmured again.

"What's impossible?" Anastasia asked, strolling into the library with her parents in tow. My cousin pulled her glossy black hair into a high ponytail on her head, the ends of it still brushing her ribcage because it was so long. Aunt Isabelle perched herself on top of one of the desks, Simon sitting in one of the chairs next to his daughter.

"Jamie's found someone who can burn runes," Mom murmured, looking over at Simon. "She took his mark. Literally took it! I've never even heard of something like that."

"I have," Simon shrugged. "I'm not quite sure what it's called, but it was said that those who drank the blood of Nathaniel held his ability control both the physical and spiritual aspects of Heavenly Fire."

"Nathaniel?"

"Angel of Flames." Izzy said matter-of-factly.

"But no one's ever drank the blood of Nathaniel," Anastasia argued, darting her dark brown eyes back and forth between all of us. Her small mouth was set in a firm pout. "I've never even heard of him."

"It's not often Outer Angels are called upon," Dad shrugged. "But it all makes perfect sense I suppose. It at least explains why she didn't die. A Downworlder couldn't bear a Mark, let alone a Rune, there's a possibility she's half Nephilim."

"No way, a Downworlder would die at the touch of an angel OR a Marking. It's nonsense...unless..."

"Unless she was given the blood before birth..." Isabelle murmured, looking horrified. "Did you see a Downworlder insignia anywhere on her body? They all carry one."

"If you're asking me to get her naked to find out, I support you one hundred percent and I am all for it." I grinned. Mom smacked me on the back of the head and Dad rolled his eyes.

"Who are we talking about again?" Simon asked, scratching his head. At the same time Mom said "No one." I said, "Hazel Roberts."

Simon froze, his eyes growing wide as every muscle in his body tightened. Isabelle clenched her jaw, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Hazel? As in Maia's daughter?" she questioned, staring at him. Simon didn't answer, just sat there for a few moments before rubbing his face as if to wake himself up.

"I can't believe it," he murmured into his palms. "I just can't. I can't believe Maia really went through with it."

"She was desperate." Mom hissed, although I wasn't sure what she was talking about.

"We told you." Dad grumbled, looking at me. "We told you not to go looking for her."

"Why not?" I demanded, crossing my arms. "Why can't I go get her if she's driving everyone so crazy? The Clave have been hunting this girl for over a decade. I wanna know what's so _damn _important about her."

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that she even exists?" Simon blurted out, his face bright red. I knitted my eyebrows in confusion. I'd never seen him so upset.

"Simon!" Mom hissed, eying him. He just kept shaking his head, running his fingers through his unruly mop of floppy curls.

"Now isn't the time to talk about this," Dad stated firmly, flickering his eyes between Anastasia and I. My cousin looked in my direction, crossing her arms and sticking her nose in the air the way she always did when she was about to lose her way. "We'll discuss this later on. Isabelle, I think it's about time we go see your Father."

I rolled my eyes as Isabelle and Simon rose from their seats, shoving past me as they followed my Mother up the tawny marble stairs that lead back to the double-doors. My Father paused, one hand resting on the door as he turned to look at me.

"Jamie," he called, looking down at me. "You are not to go near that girl again until we've got this all sorted out, do you understand me?" I didn't answer. "Jamie." he spoke louder, more firm. I glared at him from over my shoulder and he looked down, for a moment almost seeming as though he were saddened. "You are not to go after her again." he repeated. I turned back to my cousin as Dad slammed the large wooden door shut, leaving us with the quiet rustle of old pages and flittering dust in the musty air.

"You're going to find her again, aren't you?" Anastasia asked, a smile playing at her lips as she watched my expression. I smirked at her, shoving my hands in my pockets as mischief glittered in her dark eyes.

"Stasi," I started casually, rocking back and forth on my heels. "How do you feel about birthday parties?"


	3. Sacrifice

**~Hazel POV~**

* * *

I hadn't quit rubbing and itching at my arm since Jamie had run off in the hallway. _Jamie._ His name echoed in the back of my mind, bouncing off the walls of my skull. His name, which was a girl's name by the way, was just as annoying as he had been. Who was he to walk into _my _school, grab _my _arm, spew some fairytale nonsense about _my _mom, and then run off without giving me any real answers? A complete and utter jackass, that's who Jamie Lightwood was. I rolled my eyes to myself and leaned my head back against the passenger seat of Melissa's BMW, staring at the road solemnly as the radio hummed in the background.

_Jamie, Jamie, Jamie..._

"Quit." I grumbled to myself, squeezing my eyes shut and crossing my arms so that I could press against the Mark.

"Huh?" Melissa asked, glancing at me curiously. I shook my head, taking a deep breath as she batted her long dark eyelashes at me. Melissa was a small little thing, probably only about five foot three and a hundred and fifteen pounds, and her pointy little nose always seemed to be stuck upwards in the air, giving her a look of superiority. She shifted her small dark eyes to me once more before looking back to the road and shrugging. I knit my eyebrows together, watching her. She had soft, rounded, pale cheeks that flushed lightly at the apples, and a wide mouth with long, thin lips. Melissa had this little glow about her, this faint shimmering and as I watched her I realized she'd reminded me of a...

"Hazel?" Liss demanded, raising her eyebrows at me again in annoyance. "What are you staring at? Do I have a zit or something?"

"No, no," I stammered, shaking my head. "Just tired. Your hair looks really nice." I lied, turning back to look out the window. I smoothed out the black, thin material of my skirt against my thighs, momentarily regretting the decision to wear it after realizing how short it was. _Oh well. The more attention the better, _I thought idly. _It is my birthday, after all._

Except my mind hadn't been on n birthday. I'd actually forgotten about it for the past day and a half until Genevieve called me that morning announcing she'd planned a dinner for me. The truth was, my mind had ruthlessly, and irritably, been honing in on the face of Jamie Lightwood and whether or not I'd ever get to see it again. I _wanted _to see it again, much to my dismay. Even if he was an ass, I was used to that, I'd almost grown accustomed to dealing with douchebags on a regular basis (I mean I was dating one, after all) and so it hadn't even seemed to phase me past my usual point of irritation. No, it wasn't his beautiful face that had truly gotten to me, it was the way he'd made me _feel. _I had never in my life felt anything like what I'd felt when our skin touched, like a thousand volts of the most deliciously painful electricity was shooting down my veins at a hundred miles an hour. Now I knew what people meant, when they'd talked about butterflies and feeling and love...maybe this wasn't what they'd meant, but it was _something._

I crossed my legs and rolled my ankle, feeling Jamie's cold stele press against my foot and the inside of my shoe where I'd hidden it. I couldn't just leave it there in the hallway, glowing and pulsating like some kind of alien pencil. Part of me had hoped, prayed even, that if I'd taken it, he'd come back to me to get it, and I'd be able to touch him again. It wasn't until the Mark on the inside of my elbow began to throb that I remembered the white-hot searing pain that had accompanied his touch. I scoffed to myself. Of course the _one _time I'm truly interested in a boy, his touch causes me excruciating pain. _Forget him, _a small voice in the back of my mind tells me. _You are praying for a fairytale. Fairy tales don't exist. _

Melissa continued to ramble on in the background about shoes and men and other things I had no interest in as we pulled into the parking lot of _Yvette's_, one of the nicest and overly-gaudy restaurants in Brooklyn Square.

"Here," she said, pulling out her makeup bag and grabbing my chin. "Let me fix you." Although I could argue strongly that there was nothing on my face to _fix, _I allowed her free-reign. What if I was wrong, anyways, and there was tons to fix that I just didn't see? Melissa brushed powder all across my cheeks and nose before dabbing lip gloss on my lower lip.

"Do I look pretty yet?" I asked numbly.

"You look absolutely fabulous!" she grinned, stuffing the makeup back into her purse. I exited the car, careful not to teeter too forcefully on my silver sparkly Red Bottoms. The warm air blew across my face, and I was glad I'd decided to wear a simple matching silver sleeveless, sweetheart neckline corset instead of the flaming hot pink body-suffocater Melissa had chosen. The girl looked like she was about to pop, and not in a good way.

"Gorgeous," Anthony breathed in my ear, wrapping his arms around me from behind. I closed my eyes, readying myself for the next hour or so I'd have to endure with him. "Happy Birthday."

"Thank you," I murmured, plastering a grin across my face. "Can't believe it's already here."

"Well come on then!" he urged, grabbing my hand and leading me inside.

Everyone looked up and smiled as we entered, cheering and "Hello"'s being thrown around the room as they stood to hug and kiss me. There were at least a hundred pictures taken before someone noticed the Mark on my arm.

"What the Hell is that?" Hanna Clement asked, turning her nose up and pointing at my skin.

"It's fake," I blurted out quickly, my face turning red as Anthony raised his eyebrows. "Some freak drew it on me when I fell asleep in Math, I couldn't scrub it off!"

"What a weirdo."

"I know," I continued, flipping my hair. "Probably that witch girl with the purple hair." Apparently this was funny, because almost everyone laughed.

"Be careful, she's cursing you!" Gen grinned, bumping me with her elbow and winking. I rolled my eyes.

"I feel so faint, it's already working!" I cried. More laughter, and on the inside I was rolling my eyes.

Anthony pushed me lightly into the booth, brushing my hair away from my shoulders as I did so. I wondered silently to myself why I let him prod me along like I was some kind of sheep and he was my keeper, but the thought quickly left my mind as Melissa appeared in the corner, carrying a platter in her hands. I looked out of the window across the restaurant, rain starting to patter against the glass lightly as cars zoomed down the busy street outside. Couples and singles walked along the busy Brooklyn sidewalks, no corner of the city left unlit.

All twenty of us watched us as she carried the cake to the table, the glow of the candles flickering across her eerily translucent skin while they sang happy birthday. Anthony pecked me on the cheek and wrapped an arm around my shoulder as his dark eyes glittered with the burning flame in front of us. His cheeks looked hollow instead of sculpted in this light. All of their eyes were on me as I grinned, trying to ignore the knot in my chest as the stele grew warm against my foot. The cake was vanilla. I hated vanilla.

There was only one wish that came to mind as I leaned over and blew gently on all seventeen candles, my peers clapping and cheering in my ear as I did so, laughter filling the restaurant. Heads turned our way and smiled. Yes, what a lovely sight it must be, a girl surrounded by loved ones on her seventeenth birthday...but none of the faces in the restaurant could catch my attention, because as I blew out the last candle, my eyes immediately flickered upwards and out the window. There it was. _That_ was the face that I'd wished for. That was the person I wanted to see.

Jamie smirked lightly at me as a tall, cream-colored, black-haired girl came to his side, her dark eyes meeting mine immediately. They were speaking to each other, too quickly for me to try and read their lips, but she seemed worried, maybe even a little irritated. I figured, as she glanced upwards in annoyance, that the rain was ruining her hair. Jamie seemed to be urging her to move, and although it was reluctantly, she eventually followed him into the restaurant.

"What's wrong?" Anthony asked, following my gaze out the window. I shook my head, opening my mouth to say something when Jamie strolled over, his girlfriend in tow. Gen's eyes narrowed at him as she crossed her arms, immediate judgment flooding her expression.

"Who are you?" Hanna demanded, raising her eyebrows from across the table.

"Oh, God, Jamie Lightwood, at your service." He said theatrically, practically throwing his arm across the table to shake her hand. Hanna jumped back slightly.

Jamie's girlfriend sank into the seat at the head of the table, eying Genevieve daringly as she opened her mouth to oppose the girl who'd just taken her seat. The girl smiled as Gen said nothing, and propped her heavy black stilettos up on the table. Everyone looked absolutely horrified at the lack of manners present. Jamie slithered into the booth across from me, propping his chin up on his hands. I glared. He was being an ass on purpose, and while for a moment I'd thought he'd genuinely wanted to see me, it turned out to be that he'd just wanted to make a scene.

"What do you want?" I growled.

"Well I came to wish you a Happy Birthday, of course." He said innocently, sticking a finger into my vanilla cake and licking off the icing.

"You know this douche bag?" Anthony asked incredulously, raising his eyebrows at me in surprise.

"Now now," Jamie smirked, his voice suddenly dangerously low. "That's no way to speak in front of a lady,"

"Fuck this guy!" Matt Susuki cried from his seat.

"At the table of all places!" Jamie continued, clearly having a ball. The girl at the head of the table was inspecting her nails, clearly bored.

"Get out of here!" I demanded, subtly clenching a fork in my hand (I'd intended to eat that God-Forsaken cake with it, but thankfully Jamie was posing as a distraction, and if necessary the fork would prove to be a nice weapon should I have decided to stab him with it).

"Not until you give back what you took from me." he said simply, leaning back in his seat.

"Took from him?" Anthony demanded. I waved him off.

"I didn't take it, you dropped it. I was saving it for you."

"What exactly did you take?" Anthony demanded again, hitting my shoulder lightly. Jamie narrowed his eyes at him.

"My innocence," he teased. "Although I hardly think that requires you to hit her like you're two years old."

"Can you just take your annoying ass home?" Anthony challenged, clenching a fist. My own fingers were wrapping themselves tighter and tighter around the metal in my hand.

"Not until I get what's mine," Jamie retorted, leaning forward again. He could never sit still. Neither could Anthony now that he was getting all fired up. Gen rolled her eyes and began tapping her foot.

"Okay here people," she interrupted. "Obviously we're wasting precious celebration time. Just give the Geek squad what they came for so we can have cake."

"Jamie." the girl said urgently, her feet sliding off the table as she sat up in her seat. We all followed her wide brown eyes to my clenched right hand, where silver matter was oozing from in between my fingers. I slowly unclenched my fist, the once gleaming, silver fork now nothing but a puddle of liquid, hot metal. Anthony recoiled from me slightly, Jamie stopped rocking in his seat, and Melissa sighed in annoyance. Immediately, the girl who'd come with Jamie stood and practically bolted out of the restaurant. She was gone in seconds.

"Enough with the party tricks." Gen declared, cutting herself a slice. The rest of the table followed suit.

"On second thought I'm not that hungry," Jamie said coldly, his golden eyes flickering between my hand and my face. "Happy Birthday."

"Wait-"

But he didn't listen. Jamie Lightwood, for the second time again, had come and gone in a matter of minutes. I climbed frantically over Anthony and stumbled out of the booth, my shoes wobbling uneasily underneath me. I pulled them off and pushed into the crowded sidewalk barefoot, my eyes scanning the people for Jamie's face. A pair of golden eyes flashed to mine as he backed away slowly through the crowd.

"Hazel!" Anthony called as I followed the boy. I knew it was wrong, but I ignored him, pushing forward, keeping the back of Jamie's head in my sights for as long as I possibly could until Anthony's voice was inaudible and Jamie turned a corner. I followed silently, sticking to the shadows, keeping my breath even.

A few times, he'd turned his head to see if I was following, and I'd had to hide behind some abandoned dumpster or press myself tightly against the wall of an alley so as not to be seen. It was stupid. It was reckless. He could be a seriel killer for all I knew. But I _had _to find out where he'd come from. It felt like we'd been walking for forever when finally Jamie paused in front of an old abandoned church. The inner side of my elbow started burning furiously, and I squeezed my eyes shut as a throbbing pulse shot through my skull, my ears ringing as I crouched to the ground, rain soaking my entire outfit. I squinted as the church began to shimmer, as if it were covered in acid sparkles. The walls began to peel back, revealing a tall, golden, dark castle-like building. Towers with floor-to-ceiling windows covered the front of the building, a large greenhouse on the right side lit up like Christmas morning. I watched Jamie as peeked from behind the wall of a building across from the golden castle. A man, probably in his late thirties, with golden hair and creamy, smooth skin, strode to the front gates dressed in all black. He looked around for a moment before pulling a blue and silver stele from his back pocket and carving a small marking into the side of the gate. The rune began to glow heavily, emitting a bright silver before the gate unlatched itself and he strode inside. Jamie followed quickly, careful not to be seen and slipping through the gate the very second before it closed.

I huffed in irritation, adrenaline coursing through me as I darted quickly across the street and crouched in front of the iron gate. After taking off my shoes I'd resorted to stuffing the stele in my bra. I took it out, studying it for a moment before holding it in my hand like a pencil, and mimicking the same Mark the blonde-haired man had made only minutes before. There was a loud groan and lots of clicking before slowly the wrought-iron bars shifted to the side. I slipped behind the gate, watching it close behind me before running into a body. I heard a yelp, and a tall, tanned, curly-haired boy with big shoulders and an unruly mop of curls turned to face me, a sword beaming in his left hand. He and I yelled at the same time, and as I dropped the stele, my shoes, and all of my calm exterior, the boy thrust the sword straight into my lower chest.

I gasped, the boy's mouth falling open in horror as he froze, his eyes wide at what he'd just done. The air flew from my body as he stepped closer in an attempt to help. I gripped at his shoulder with one hand and held my stomach with the other, the edges of my vision becoming blurry until finally my knees gave out, and the world itself collapsed on top of me.

***Someone requested the songs I listen to as I write the chapters so from here on out I'll be posting them for you all! Read & Review ;)***

**Sky World- Two Steps From Hell**

**Clary's Theme-Atli Ovarsson**

**Deathly Hallows- Alexandre Desplat**

**Severus And Lily-Nicholas Hooper**

**Lily's Theme-Nicholas Hooper**

***Jamie POV***

* * *

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Stasi screamed, the dying girl doing a mixture of groaning and crying in her arms. The large marble hall was frantic with shouting and blood as we carried Hazel to the Infirmary, Aaron's large, rounded cheeks flushed a bright red as he tried to explain that it was an accident.

"They told me to keep watch!" he cried, pulling Hazel out of Stasi's arms as she paused in front of the Lockbox.

"Hurry up," I hissed, watching her shift through key after key. "She should've been dead by now."

"She just came around the corner and she was so quiet and I got scared and they-"

"YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO _STAB _HER WITH IT YOU IDIOT!" my cousin screamed, her dark eyes furious. Hazel's screaming was coming to a quiet murmur, lowering and lowering until it was nothing but an airy breath.

Aaron's eyes widened as he stared at the girl in his arms, soaked from the rain and covered in a river of dark red. Hazel quit moving. And breathing. Shit.

"Oh God!" Aaron screamed, nearly dropping her. I snatched her from his arms, my patience beyond thin as in a fit of irritation I kicked through the side-door of the Infirmary, the heavy wood clattering to the floor in a loud boom.

"Or we could just do that." Stasi grumbled, throwing the keys to the floor and stomping into the large room after me.

"What the Hell happened?" Simon demanded, bursting in through the large marble arch across the room. He and Izzy had come from the opposite side of the Institute, both dressed in their pajamas. Simon's hair was frizzing on one side and his glasses were crooked.

"She must've snuck in after me," I said hurriedly, laying Hazel down in a mass of white sheets. Stasi began ripping at her clothing, pushing the girl's dark hair away from her brown face. "Aaron could barely see out there, he panicked, he-"

"I killed her! Oh my God, I killed her-" he wailed, running his hands through his hair.

"Yeah like you've never done that before." Isabelle hissed, helping her daughter with Hazel.

"This is different! This was an innocent person!" he defended, sinking into a chair near the bed.

"Stasi, what do I do?" I demanded, watching Hazel. She hadn't moved in the past five minutes. My cousin didn't answer, too focused on cutting away Hazel's clothes and handing them to Izzy. "Stasi?"

"Get the green bottles in the cabinet over there, and I need the gauze in the desk. Go, the green ones! I need four!"

I shoved passed Simon and made my way to the cabinet, Aaron rocking back and forth in his seat as I shoved the endless medical supplies aside until finally grasping a green bottle with a tawny wooden cork. _Epinephrine._

"You want to give her four of these?!" I cried, whirling around.

"Jamie just get the damn bottles!" Anastasia demanded. I swore loudly and grabbed the bottles, slamming the cabinet shut.

"Aaron," Isabelle started, peeling off Hazel's skirt. "Go and get Etta. Jamie go with him. It's one thing to be stabbed for no reason, it's another to be stabbed, nearly die, _and _be seen naked by strange boys when you wake up."

"So you think she'll live?" I asked a little too hopefully, Anasasia grabbing one of the bottles clustered against my chest. Isabelle looked at me, wiping the blood off of her left hand onto her pants.

"We're trying." Was all she said. Disappointment sank into my stomach. What had I expected? She'd been stabbed straight through the chest, who could live through that? Not even a Shadownhunter stood a good chance. I looked down at Hazel, all matted with blood and sweat.

Aaron had to pull me by the arm to get me to leave the room, and I watched as my family worked frantically over the stranger I'd drug into this mess.

"What was she doing here?" Aaron asked loudly as we ran down the stone courtyard, our footsteps ringing off of the columns on all four sides. I dodged a branch from one of the many cherry blossom trees and looked at him.

"Following me."

"Why was she following you? How did she know where to come?"

"It's a long story alright? I'm not the one who stabbed her."

Aaron was silent after that.

We exploded through another set of wooden double doors and, not for the first time, I silently asked myself in irritation why the Insitutue had to be so damn large. Sprinting up the stone steps of the North Tower, my thoughts started to race at a hundred miles an hour. What if Hazel really did die? What if everything I'd been wondering about, all the fairytales and rumours I'd heard of her had been false? Did she even understand what she was? Who she was? And Simon...the way Simon had been staring at her in the Infirmary only reassured me that there was a lot more that I didn't know. He'd been watching her silently, his mouth wide open as if he'd been looking at a ghost.

Aaron rapped a large fist against the door of Etta's room, his breathing heavy.

"Ms. Etta?!" he called, knocking harder. "Ms. Etta it's an emergency, we nee-" The door swung open, Ms. Etta's brown skin becoming illuminated by the hallway lights.

"What in God's name-"

"It's an emergency." I interuppted, grabbing her hand and practically dragging her down the steps.

"There's a girl here," Aaron said in between jogs. "She was hurt."

"Hurt is an understatement," I grumbled. "He stabbed her."

"Stabbed who?! Now you boys know I can't work no magic like that." Ms. Etta protested, one fist keeping her obnoxiously fluffy robe closed tight.

"She's still breathing!" Aaron tried.

"We think."

We re-entered the Infirmary, which was even louder than before now that the rest of the Institute's students had woken up and joined the commotion. Isabelle and Mom looked more frazzled than ever trying to keep them at bay, Isabelle's arms and hands covered in dried blood. I moved around the large, thick, white screen that they'd set up around the bed in an attempt at modesty. Dad shot me a look, his eyes wide and angry.

"We'll talk about this later." he shot as I moved past him, Ms. Etta in tow.

"Of course we will."

The round, plushy nurse took one look at Hazel before shooting me a look.

"Jamie."

"Yes Ms. Etta?"

"This girl dead."

"Come on!" I cried, throwing my hands into the air. "Are you serious?! You have to _try!"_

"You can't just give up on a patient!" Anastasia yelled, rummaging through the cabinet in the corner.

"I can when the patient is already dead!" the Nurse scoffed, crossing her arms. "No ya'll know I won't get your hopes up."

This much was true. Shadownhunters who'd come through our Institute on any means basis had learned quickly that Ms. Etta wasn't the type to sugarcoat anything. If you were going to lose an arm, she'd let you know. If you were going to be blind, she'd tell you. There was no lying here, no false hope, and I wasn't sure if I was happy with that or not. What had ever happened to having good faith?

"Listen to me," it was Simon this time, holding the nurse gingerly by one shoulder and looking at her pleadingly. "I don't care if it's futile or not. You _have to help her._ You have to."

Ms. Etta strared at Simon for a long moment, taking in his desperate expression before turning back to Hazel and sighing, pulling out her stele.

"I can't make no promises." She confirmed.

"You can't use an _iratze _on her!" I interrupted, grabbing her hand. "Downworlders die on contact, you can't touch her with that."

"Then how the Hell do you explain this?" Darren Lam demanded, pointing at the crook of Hazel's elbow. Anastasia yanked at the back of his collar, shoving him behind the screen and taking his place.

"Will you get the Hell out of here!" she cried, rolling her eyes in disgust. "The poor girl is in her underwear."

"How _do _you explain that?" Ms. Etta demanded.

"I DON'T KNOW!" I shouted angrily, raising my arms. "I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING EXCEPT THAT WE'RE NOT SURE WHAT SHE IS AND THAT COULD KILL HER."

"If she's still alive." Darren grumbled a few feet away. I clenched my jaw, trying to contain my fury as the Nurse rubbed a hand over her face and began shouting orders to Isabelle and Stasi.

Aaron had been commanded to shoo everyone out of the large room, and did so easily, considering his six-foot-three frame and broad shoulders. Everyone migrated to the Common Room two halls over, the fireplace roaring to life and casting dark, looming shadows over the walls.

"What. In the Hell. Is going on?" Dad boomed, his arms crossed over his chest as he glared at me. I kept my eyes on the flames and let Aaron answer.

"She followed Jamie here, it wasn't his fault, she-"

"Wasn't his fault?!" Dad demanded. "If he hadn't gone looking for her none of this would be happening!" This caught my attention.

"You're joking, right?"

"Does this face look like it's laughing?"

"You don't want me to tell you what that face looks like." I grumbled. Dad glared at me in irritation, as I paced back and forth, biting my thumbnail. We waited. For minutes. Hours. Days. Weeks. Months. Years. I couldn't take it. Every passing second felt like a decade, and Mom could see the worry etched onto my face.

"This isn't your fault." she murmured. I rolled my eyes and sank into my chair, her and Dad arguing quietly between themselves as the rest of us sat in silence. Marital problems in the middle of a crisis, this is _exactly _what we needed right now.

"Are you gonna pout all night?" Dad asked, rubbing a hand over his face. "I know you didn't mean to get her hurt Jamie, but damn it you are so stubborn. We told you not to see her!

"So the Clave can go looking for her but I can't?!" I yelled, my feet sliding off of the foot rest as I sat up angrily.

"You are not the Clave! You area seventeen year old bo-"

"I'm a SHADOWHUNTER JUST LIKE THE REST OF THESE PEOPLE-"

"You are an IDIOTIC teenage BOY and I would KNOW because I WAS ONE-"

"Will you girls quit screaming at each other?!"

Dad and I both turned as Isabelle walked into the room, wiping the blood from her hands. Aaron stood from his seat.

"You didn't hit anything vital," she said quietly, looking at him. "But she'll be in bad shape for a few hours. Etta called Magnus, see if he could help."

"What makes you think Magnus would come back here after what happened?" Mom asked, knitting her eyebrows together. She'd been referring to my uncle, Alec. Now I'm not one to judge, and if you are, then you might as well quit listening to my story now (There's a lot of weirdos in this one), but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you anyways. My uncle was gay, and with the help of Magnus Bane had been one of the first Shadowhunters to ever come out about his sexuality. Keyword had. As in before he died.

"Magnus loves this family and understands he is a part of it," Isabelle shot, a little too harshly. "And...I might have told him this was a special case. However the details of this special case seem to be slightly obscured." she said, setting the towel down on the back of a chair and stairing pointedly at Simon. Mom's eyes drifted to his, as did mine.

"What's going on?" Dad asked softly. "What is it that you know?"

Simon took his glasses off and rubbed his nose, sighing.

"You might want to take a seat." he said quietly. We all did, everyone crowding around the small fireplace. Darren Lam, his twin Lucy, Aaron, even Heaven Lancast had managed to pull herself out of bed with all the ruckus. Simon sat on the ledge of the fireplace, blocking the radiating heat with his back hunched and his elbows on his knees.

"Maia Roberts was a Downworlder from Luke Garroway's pack," he started, fiddling with his glasses idly. "Your parents, Clary, Jace, Isabelle, they already know this. But this story isn't just for them."

"After the Second Uprising, about a year before you all were born, rebels from the First Generation Clave who'd survived the war had created a renegade group who called themselves the Purified Ones. They were single-minded, believing the Nephilim were the only breed worthy of our world. The Downworlders were nothing in their eyes. Less than nothing, they believed the Downworlders should be non-existant. Do any of you remember why the Second Uprising took place?" Simon was in Teacher mode. Since I could remember he'd been working at the college and the Institute, taking the place of someone my father had called Hodge Starkweather as our mentor.

"It was because the Clave was corrupted," Lucy piped up, brushing her glossy black hair out of her face. Heaven watched her closely, and I nudged her with my elbow so she'd quit. She was being too obvious. "They were performing experiments on the Downworlders."

"Experiments?" Aaron asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Downworlders cannot bear the markings of Angels," Simon answered. "Runes. It burns their flesh and eats their souls from the inside out. They're said to be the counterparts to Nephilim because instead of being half-angel, they're half-demon."

"But if they kept agreeing to the Accords what would the Clave want with them?"

"When Clary created the Alliance Rune, the Clave, was...scared, to say the least. The Downworlders were able to share the powers of a Shadowhunter and vice versa. They wanted to know why these creatures were able to bear this single rune, and not that of any other kind."

"They went looking for your mother," he said sadly, looking directly at me. Mom nodded in confirmation, Dad sliding an arm protectively around her waist. I tried not to grimace at the sight of them... At the sight of _Love_. "They wanted to know if it was her instead of the Runes, but, a few tests quickly dismissed that theory. They began to think it was the Downworlders . That certain bloodlines made for better endurance, much like that of Shadowhunters."

"I thought a Shadowhunter's skill depended on his training." Darren interuppted skeptically. Simon laughed.

"Skills can be improved and polished, yes. But talent is in your soul, it courses through your veins. You cannot fake talent." Darren was silent.

"The Purified Ones began hunting down the Downworlders. Any half-demon with more than enough blood to spare was taken in for testing, no acceptions."

"What if they were sick or something?" Heaven asked quietly. Simon shook his head.

"No acceptions. No illnesses, no disabilities, no pregnancies..."

"Wait," Lucy shot. "Pregnancies? You can't test on someone who's pregnant, it will kill the baby."

"Unfortunately the Purified Ones weren't as compassionate as you," Simon said sadly, giving a small smile. "Maia knew this when she got pregnant. And Jordan knew it too. So they began conducting experiments of their own."

"We thought it was over after the Second Uprising," Simon said quietly, burying his face in his hands. "It had been years since the Second Uprising. Nearly half a decade, we thought we could live in peace. But nothing in our world stays peaceful. Not for long."

"Maia and Jordan knew who would be coming for them. Their idea was horrifying, they knew it was a long shot. God, we all tried to tell them, but they wouldn't listen, nothing we said could've stopped her. She was desperate, she was stubborn, good Lord was she stubborn..."

"Simon?" Aaron whispered fearfully, his voice small. "What did she do?"

"During the Second Uprising, Shadowhunters had called on a few of the Outer Angels to aid them in their battle against the Greater Demons. Agramon, the demon of fear, appeared to the Angel Nathaniel in the form of his own Pride, and in the midst of his fear Nathaniel was distracted enough so that Agramon could cut off one of his wings. Humbled and more aware than ever of the impurities of all creatures engaged in this battle, Nathaniel's blood began to boil with Heavenly Fire, so that his slaughter would bring about the destruction of all of Idris and Alicante, a purification for all souls involved. Maia saw the Angel's wing taken, and as Agramon brought his sword into the air about to strike once more, she leapt in front of the blade."

"She did not die," Simon said quietly, looking up at us. "But it's said that part of her soul died from the fear Agramon's blade instilled in her. Surprised by the selflessness and bravery of this creature, a half-demonic creature at that, Nathaniel granted her one wish to be used when she most desperately needed it. After the battle of the Second Uprising, God took Nathaniel into heaven to replace his wings, and as reward to Maia, Nathaniel healed her."

"What does this have to do with the girl?" Darren asked impatiently.

"Her name is Hazel," I hissed lightly, earning a look from Aaron and my parents. "Just shut up so we can listen."

"When Maia found out the Purified Ones were looking for her, she got desperate. She knew if they found her they'd kill the child, if not raise it and torture it. Hoping to mask her demonic counterpart, nearly 6 years after the battle, she called upon the angel Nathaniel in her third month of pregnancy."

"Where was everyone else?" Lucy asked.

"The Shadowhunter families had two choices: To stay out of the way and live in peace or die protecting the Downworlders. Your parents," Simon murmured looking at me. "Stood by me without wavering, even after your birth."

"So we're all a few months older than her?" Anastasia asked. She'd been sitting in the corner since Simon had begun his story. Simon nodded.

"When Nathaniel came to them, Maia asked for only one thing: Something strong enough to mask the demonic counterpart in her veins, and in her soon-to-be daughter's."

"What did he give her, then?"

"His blood." Dad answered darkly. We all looked to him. "Nathaniel gave Maia his blood, riddled and boiling with Heavenly Fire. Enough to keep a clan of vampires fed for nearly a year."

I shuddered.

"How is that even possible?"

"She drank until it drove her mad," Simon whispered. "It burned her alive, ate her up from the inside out. Imagine sand paper in your veins. It drained her. It was killing her. It was awful," he stood, pacing, obviously disturbed by the memory of her. I ran my hand through my hair, worrying about how Hazel would be reacting had she been listening with the rest of us. "Her hair was falling out, she couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. Her temperature at average was nearly a hundred and four degrees. She never complained. Not once."

"What happened?" Lucy asked horrified. Heaven glanced at her again with dark brown eyes, her golden hair shimmering in the fire's light.

"The Purified Ones came to them, as expected. Jordan fought. They were ready. Isabelle and I...we were there. We did what we could for as long as possible. Maia was taken to Magnus and Alec, who, at the time, were the only warlocks we knew who weren't corrupted. She was running, we were fighting."

"Alec was a warlock?" I asked, knitting my eyebrows together.

"He and Magnus were in an Alliance. They could share abilities."

"So what happened?"

"Maia died giving birth to Hazel. Jordan died fighting."

We were all silent for a long time, soaking in the information we'd just recieved. The air suddenly felt heavy. In a matter of hours, the entire face of my world had turned upside down, and not in the way that it had for my friends and my family. Yes, Hazel affected them, but not the way it affected _me._ It was my fault she had come here. It was my fault she had gotten hurt. I had dragged her into this world and she had no parents, no known family or friends to protect her but me. She was my responsibility. And the idea of that weighed heavily on my shoulders.

"A demon child born with angelic blood..." Jace murmured, musing over the idea. Disbelief covered his expression as he stared off into space, shaking his head lightly.

"It's impossible." Isabelle said quietly.

"It's not," Simon said shaking his head. "The Purified Ones never found her, they know she's alive. Hazel is very, very real, and very, very powerful."

"Powerful?" Darren asked, scratching his ear. "How powerful?"

"Afraid of even more competition than usual?" Aaron shot, glaring at him. Darren narrowed his eyes.

"Not that you're any, but I wouldn't mind knowing."

"Ithuriel, Raziel, those are the original Angels who created the Shadowhunters and are still sometimes used to this day to create new ones. But an Outer Angel? They're mighty. They're fearsome. Jamie's parents have more angelic blood in them than usual, it made them stronger and faster, smarter, gave them talents that were unkown to our world, and that's just with the blood of an _average _angel. This girl...she's born of Heavenly Fire. The most powerful matter of Heaven and Hell alike. What she coud be able to do could very well end us all."

"She could kill us all if she wanted to," Simon murmured. "Maia...she knew what she was doing. Jordan had taken on nearly a dozen of the Purified Ones on his own, died defending his family. The amount of sacrifice and blood that's been shed for this child is unreal."

"The Clave will come looking for her when they find out she's here." Mom said, looking worried.

"They're not gonna try to hurt her, will they?" Aaron demanded. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I won't let them." I said evenly.

"_You _won't let them?" Aaron asked in disbelief. I shot him a look. "No offense Jamie, but you're irresponsible and brash as it is...you can barely take care of yourself. How are you gonna take care of another person?"

"Obviously the guilt of nearly killing her has brought you to believe you've got some sort of divinity-given obligation to protect her or account for her life," I shot, Dad chuckling in the background. "Or you'd otherwise be crying alone in your bedroom. I think you've done enough."

"I think _you _have a crush on her." Heaven teased, pursing her lips at me. I stood up in a huff, irritated.

"I don't get crushes," I spat, crossing my arms. "I brought her into this, I'm obligated to be responsible for her. We can't trust the Clave."

"Are you sure?" Izzy asked. "Things have gotten so much better since the Second Uprising. Maybe we can."

"We should be cautious." Simon murmured, Mom nodding in agreement.

"I say we take them to our parents." Dad shrugged. Izzy raised her eyebrows in surprise and Mom pressed her lips into a tight line, a silent sign that she didn't quite agree.

"Since Jamie is so hell-bent on watching over the girl, maybe we should ask him what he thinks?" Darren smirked. I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever," I grumbled. "We take her to my grandparents. But not until she heals and is fully briefed. We don't need to spring this on her all at once."

"All business." Heaven teased, making fun of my no-nonsense expression. This side of me was rarely seen.

She and Anastasia followed me out of the room, leaving the rest of my family to speak quietly amongst themselves.

"I feel bad for her," Stasi said softly, looking down at her feet as she walked. "What are we gonna do? What if she wants to leave?"

"She probably will," I shrugged. "But the best we can do is make her feel at home here. Be warm and welcoming." I offered a smile but it didn't seem to work very well, and as Stasi waved before entering her bedroom, I couldn't help but feel worry sinking into my stomach like a stone. What if Hazel _did _want to leave?

I rounded a corner and headed into the Infirmary, Magnus and Etta chatting softly over tea in the corner.

"Don't mind us," I cut in, kicking off my shoes and sitting onto the white bed next to Hazel's. "Just having a little sleepover."

"Did you do this?" Magnus asked teasingly, motioning to Hazel with his tea cup.

"I can assume that she's going to live by your ever-failing attempt at being funny?"

"I can assume that you _did _in fact do this by your ever-failing attempt to dodge the question?"

"Stop being so mean, Magnus. It'll make you break out and ruin your complexion."

Magnus looked horrified for a moment and demanded that Etta find him a mirror as soon as possible. The both of them left, laughing. Heaven leaned against the end of the bed, the freckles darting over her long nose barely visible in this light. Her soft oval face looked pale, dark circles lingering under her wide, round eyes.

"I'm sorry I woke you." I murmured, getting comfortable on the bed. She shrugged.

"S'not like Shadowhunters get a lot of sleep anyways," she laughed. The joy left her face quickly as she looked at Hazel, who was now sponged clean of blood, her skin looking quite pale. Her dark curls were pulled into a side ponytail, probably Isabelle's doing, and a loose white gown had been pulled over her body. The usual flush of color that lingered on her cheeks was gone.

"It is. It's my fault. I went looking for her, I touched her, I went to go see her on her birthday-"

"What?"

"I went to her birthday dinner. At first I'd just wanted my stele back, I dropped it and she'd grabbed it, but I genuinely...I mean..."

"You really wanted to see her." Heaven finished. I pursed my lips and didn't answer, leaning my head back against the headboard. "It's okay if you like her," she smiled. "She's pretty."

"Whatever. I don't like her."

"You can't fool me," she smiled. It was true. "But if you keep looking at her like that, you won't be able to fool anyone."

"Go to bed, Heaven." I grumbled. She grinned again. I threw my shoe at her. "And if _you _keep looking at Lucy like that, I won't be able to cover your ass much longer."

"That's not funny!" she called, walking out of the Infirmary.

"I'm not laughing!" I called after her.

I sighed and glanced at Hazel one more time before putting my arms behind my head and leaning back once more. I wasn't laughing. I didn't know if I'd ever laugh again.


	4. Subtle

**Into The Cave-Antonio Pinto(Hazel wakes)**

**Goodbye Wanderer-Antonio Pinto (When Hazel finds the Stone Angel**

**Cornorhinus-Hans Zimmer (When Hazel walks into the empty house)**

***Hazel POV***

* * *

I took in a deep breath, the smell of burning leaves and pumpkin spice lingering in the air. My eyes fluttered open gently, squinting against the bright sunlight casted throughout the large room. My lips parted at the sight of the beauty in front of me, my heart rate picking up. I was in a castle. A beautiful, broken castle. There were hospital beds lined up against both walls in between floor-to-ceiling windows. The floor was made of grey speckled marble, contrasting against the long, green, stone arches up above.

My head snapped to the right as the sound of quick footsteps echoed off of the stone walls. I sat up, pain shooting through my ribcage as I did so, and winced. Before I could think myself out of it I scurried out of the white, papery sheets. I hit the cold floor on my side and scurried to my feet, sprinting out of the room barefooted and half naked. The ponytail my curls had been thrown into bounced along my shoulderblades as I headed towards the archway on the opposite side. I wasn't even sure why I was running. Whoever had tried to kill me had also tried to save my life, right? I wasn't going to wait and find out. Voices bounced along the walls behind me but I ignored them, my breath heavy as I shoved my way into a garden square. It was beautiful too, with a large, round fountain stacked seven feet high in the center. Cherry blossom trees sprouted along all four corners of the garden, their branches hanging just low enough that you could reach up and pluck the petals if you wished. I didn't have time to stop and stare, I was right in the middle of the showering sunlight, completely visible, and I needed to move.

Crossing the large garden, I took a right and headed down a large hallway, nearly falling on my ass after running into a hall table. Someone was coming this way, too. I nearly knocked down several vases before turning and pressing my back tightly against the wall. Two tall, cream-colored asian kids walked by, their dark hair shining in the morning light as they walked passed the hallway, chatting and laughing. I stared at their clothes- black pants and army boots with long, silver blades attatched to their backs. If I was caught, they'd torture me for sure. I felt along the wall behind me, twisting a knob.

The door behind me caved inwards and I fell into a large, dusty room, the carpet soft underneath my spine as I hit the floor. I quickly closed the door with my foot, turning onto my stomach and looking up. I was facing one large window. Getting slowly to my feet, careful not to move too quickly as to cause more pain, I walked over to the clear, bright glass, squinting slightly at the bright light. Looking down I could see the streets of Brooklyn, people marching along, their expressions grim or happy or sad or rushed as horns honked and cellphones rang. It was like being God and looking down from above.

I walked slowly to my left, eying the glass cases that filled that side of the room. Creatures I'd never thought existed stood frozen inside of them, their faces grim.

"Werewolf..." I said softly, pressing my fingers to the glass and staring at the beast in front of me. I moved from case to case, brushing my hand across the wooden panes as if I wanted to let all of them out, set each of them free. _Demon...Mermaid...Faerie...Forsaken..._ At the end of each row was a bookshelf, each containing numerous volumes of the creature it featured. Sometimes I'd catch a painting or drawing somewhere amongst the walls that didn't quite belong, as if someone had thrown it up there at the last second. I moved to a large iron banister, gripping it tightly as I peered over the edge. It was then that I realized I'd stumbled into a very large, very strange Library. Black marble columns wound their way to the ceiling. It looked like a mini cathedral, and I waited as my eyes focused on the angels above me. They were gracefully swooping amongst the clouds painted on the ceiling, their faces permenantly fixed into serious and thoughtful expressions. Aritifical sunlight shone upon them, streams of golden paint cascading along the false sky. They were flawless, dangerously beautiful. It was silent as I crept down the cold stairs, my naked feet barely making a sound as I reached the first level. I skimmed my hand across desks, the filmy, thick paper of ancient books, even a case of swords, until a large grey figure caught my eye.

Standing proud and tall in front of the large window that stretched to the second floor, stood a magnificent stone angel. He held a sword in one strong hand, the other outstretched with his palm wide open. His body arched gracefully at the spine, one knee touching the ground as grey, ashy curls swept in front of his empty eyes. I inched closer, my stomach clenching slightly as I drew myself to him, my fingers outstretched. _Hazel...Hazel..._The walls were playing tricks on me, whispering my name, egging me to touch him, to take his hand and allow him to hide me anywhere he chose in this universe. It felt like being hypnotized. My entire body was humming lightly as my fingers skimmed across his cool lips, down his chin, along the thin, golden chain that hung from his neck. At the end of the thin metal sat a small, metallic angel, a light ticking coming from it's insides. My fingers began to burn as my breath caught, every inch of my body warning me not to touch it, not to go any closer. I crouched down, staring into the small empty glass of it's chest. The metal seemed to be coming to life, gleaming as my fingers came closer, only centimeters away before a large, wooden door at the other end of the room swung wide open, Jamie standing in it's place.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you."

I jumped to my feet and started to back away, knocking over several books and a lamp.

"Not very graceful, huh?" Jamie teased, knitting his eyebrows together at the sight of the angel's necklace. "Did you put that there?"

"I wanna go home." I blurted out, my heart racing. Jamie frowned.

"Look, I know you must be really confused and stuff but I-"

"I want to go home!" I demanded, standing straighter. Jamie crossed his arms and pursed his lips.

"No."

"Yes."

"How are you supposed to get home if you don't even know where you are?"

"I saw through the window. I know this block."

"But how will you escape?" he asked slyly, his fingers skimming the edge of a table as he moved towards me. "There could be hundreds of us. And there's only one of you." I followed his eyes as they flickered upwards towards the ceiling, where a boy swung to the banister from the rafters and slid down gracefully, leaning against the staircase when he landed. It was the asian boy from earlier. I backed away even further, one of the drawers from the desk falling out and clinging to the floor in a mess of knives and paper.

I snatched up one of the blades, holding it out in front of me as threateningly as I could.

"Oh yeah, she's definitely one of us," I turned my head. Jamie's girlfriend smiled brightly at me as she slid onto the desk next to me and sat down. "Ms. Etta said she was gone before any of us were even done with breakfast."

"One of you?"

"She might be one of us but she's still as dumb as a box of rocks." The asian boy grumbled. Jamie shot him a look.

"You can put the damn knife down already," he laughed. "There's four of us and one of you, anyways."

"I'd rather die fighting." I said simply, watching him. His golden eyes flickered for a moment,a smile hinting at the corner of his mouth.

"Spoken like a true Shadowhunter."

"Nobody trusts anybody in our world anyways, you shouldn't be so surprised Jamie," his girlfriend laughed. "Sorry about your contacts by the way. We didn't want you to wake up half-blind or something so we took them out."

I knit my eyebrows together before moving past her towards a large metal sheild that hung from the wall. Studying my reflection, a pair of hazel eyes met my own, flecks of green winking at me in the metal. I hadn't looked at myself since I'd woken up, but I can tell you it wasn't pretty. My brown cheeks were bright red with embarassment and fear, small bags hanging under my eyes from the lack of good rest. The thin, papery gown they'd dressed me in had sleeves that fell off of my shoulders, revealing a large bruise from where I'd hit the floor. I peeked down into the clothing at my chest. Right under my breasts, at the tip of my breast bone, a dark purple bruise flushed the skin. It stretched to my bellybutton, yellowing at the edges and nearly making me want to puke.

"We're lucky Magnus was able to heal you," the Asian kid said softly. "Aaron got you pretty good."

"Do you usually stab your guests without warning them first?" I snapped.

"Because a warning would've helped you out _so_ much." Jamie piped up sarcastically. I let my knife clatter to the floor as the blood rushed from my head, my knees weakening lightly. I leaned onto the wall for support as he practically sprinted to my side, hooking his hands under my arms.

"You're alright," he breathed. "You need to be back in the Infirmary."

"I need to be _home,_" I argued, pushing away from him. I didn't need his help. "I want to leave."

"Alright," Jamie murmured, staring at me. "But there's a lot we have to explain-"

"I don't want your explanations, I want to go!"

"Just tell her the truth..." The Asian boy murmured.

It was silent for a moment as Jamie's girlfriend chewed on the inside of her cheek, the Asian boy watching us in amusement.

"We can't let you go." Jamie said softly, looking at me. "You have nowhere to go to."

"I have my home."

"You don't."

"My parents-"

"Are gone."

I froze, my face growing hot.

"Will you leave that girl alone?" Another voice. I stared at the floor, not bothering to watch as a beautiful woman with long, glossy hair swept into the room, a tall man with crooked glasses following in after her. The man nearly ran into the Asian boy as his eyes met mine. "She just woke up for God's sake."

"She sent us on a wild goose chase!" The Asian boy cried, flinging an arm into the air.

"I want to go home." I told the woman quietly as she brought a cup of water to my lips. She frowned slightly, smoothing out my hair.

"I'm afraid that's not an option, Love."

I pulled away from her, nearly knocking the cup out of her hands and shoving past Jamie.

"Maybe we ought to let her go," the older man shrugged, not taking his eyes off me."We can't keep her here forever." I nodded ferociously in agreement as the woman he'd walked in with shot him a look.

"What is she going to go home to?!" Jamie cried. His girlfriend slid off the desk and tugged lightly on my arm, pulling it around her shoulders.

"Come on," she whispered softly. "I'll find you some clothes." We left the rest of them to argue.

Her name was Anastasia, and she led me through corridor after corridor until we'd stopped at one of many large doors. She took a moment to lean me against the wall before reaching into her shoe and pulling out a red and silver stele.

"It's just like my Mom's," she commented proudly. "She had it specially made for me when I turned fifteen." I made no reply as she practically dragged me into the hot-pink and black room. I sat uneasily on her large, circular, flaming pink bed, glitter bouncing off of my hospital gown as I did so. A large black vanity sat in the corner, shoes littering nearly every corner with silver glittery stars hanging from the ceiling.

"What size are you? Like a 6 in jeans maybe?" Anastasia called from her large closet. She'd been in there for nearly five minutes. How big was that thing? I slid off of the bed and made my way over to it, just seconds away from entering when a dark pair of jeans flew out and hit me square in the face. "Sorry!" she called apologetically, tossing a pair of shoes near my face. I decided it was safest to stand over by one of the many full-length mirrors on the oppsoite side of the room.

I slipped off my gown, frowning at the sight of the ugly bruise across my ribcage as I pulled on the jeans. Anastasia threw a pink, lacy bra at the back of my head and I pulled it on grudgingly.

"Uhm..." I looked down at the overflowing cups. "This is a little too small..."

"What are you trying to say?" Stasi shot, poking her head from out of the closet. "Oh, wow...your boobs are HUGE." she whistled. I shot her a look and she laughed, disappearing for another few minutes before handing me a different one to try on.

"At least you didn't throw it this time." I teased, pulling it on. It wasn't exactly my size, but it was better than the last, and it would have to make do. She handed me a black tank top and the shoes I'd been wearing to my birthday dinner.

"I had to save these," she commented matter-of-factually. "You have fantastic taste in footwear."

I thanked her awkwardly and pulled them on, unsure of if I'd be able to walk in them all the way home. I fixed my messy ponytail and stretched painfully before crossing the room, Anastasia sprawling out across her bedspread.

"Hazel?"

I turned to look at her, my hand on the doorknob. "How come you wear colored contacts?" she asked. I chewed on my bottom lip for a second before leaning against the door.

"I was adopted," I said plainly. "Both of my adoptive parents had brown eyes so when I was fourteen I started buying contacts so I could pretend I actually belonged in their family."

I pulled on the door handle and made my way into the hallway before she could respond. _Probably would've been a good idea to ask where the front door was before you made a scene, _I thought to myself bitterly, rounding corner after corner. I walked hurriedly through one of the long halls bordering the courtyard when a large, husky boy bolted into me from my left. I hit the floor with a thud, the boy apologizing rapidly and repeatedly as he yanked me to my feet by the arm. I rubbed my eyes with one hand and looked at him, my mouth falling open as I took in his whole face.

"You!" I yelled, shoving at him. The boy's eyes went wide, his cheeks flushing as he waved his hands in defense.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry- I was just coming to- oh my God!"

"You tried to kill me!" I yelled, slapping him with my jacket.

"It was an accident!" He defended.

"Oh well maybe I'll ACCIDENTALLY shove my FOOT UP YOUR A-"

"What the Hell is going on here?" Jamie asked, knitting his eyebrows together as he entered our hallway. I yelled in irritation, stomping past him and down the hall way before turning back.

"Where the Hell is the front door?!" I demanded. The boy looked at me awkwardly and pointed in to the right before I shoved past him yet again and headed in that direction, Jamie laughing behind me.

When I was finally back on the Brooklyn sidewalk, hurrying down the block towards my house, I was filled with contempt. Should I have stayed? What would my parents think? What would Aaron think? What about Gen, and everyone else at school? I boarded the next train down Thirty Second street, and after what felt like hours of thought, I finally decided not to tell anyone. I didn't know what I'd say to them yet, but it wouldn't be the truth. I leaned against one of the tall silver poles, my head pounding and chest aching as the train rocked back and forth, the lights flickering slightly. A tall, burly man stood in the corner, a grey streak in his mess of curls. His tanned face was mostly obscured by a grey and brown thick beard, his black eyes flickering over to me every few minutes. It looked like he was studying me, his eyebrows knitting together slightly when our eyes met.

"Hazel?"

Every muscle in my body tensed as I stared at him, my heart pounding. At the rate I was going today, I'd have a heart attack before I even made it home. The man turned his whole body towards me, his eyes lighting up as he grinned.

"My God, it really is you isn't it? We never thought we'd see you again..."

"What?"

You're Maia's daughter!" he exclaimed, reaching for me. I reeled backwards, the man frowning as he shook his head. "No, no, sweetheart I knew your mother, she knew me, my name is Lu-"

I scrambled back out onto the platform as the train doors slid shut, cutting the man's words off. He rushed to the window, banging on it as he called my name, yelling things I couldn't comprehend. I'd had enough. I ran up the subway stairs and winced against the warm sunlight, sweat forming along my hairline as I ran three blocks to my neighborhood, my large, white house coming into view within twenty minutes. I would be home soon. I would be safe, and this would all be behind me like a very, very bad dream.

But today was just full of surprises.

Everything was ruined. Glass crunched against the bottom of my shoes as I made my way down the hallway, bits of wood missing from the wall. Photographs hung crooked along the wall, the spaces next to them eerily blank where otheres had been ripped away. I turned into the kitchen, the refrigerator laying face-first against the linoleum floor. I ran my fingers over the white marble counter where a chunk of it had been ripped away, the edges stinging against my soft skin. There was milk and food spilled all across the ground, the house smelling sickeningly sweet.

"Mom?" I called, my voice cracking as I waited for Caroline to respond. There was nothing but silence. Immediately, I turned and ran up the stairs, flinging the door open to my room. The bed had been turned completely upside down, every dresser drawer emptied and tossed carelessly somewhere on the cluttered floor. My mirror in the corner had been shattered, my laptop split in half. The closet doors had been ripped off, every article of clothing torn to bits. I backed out, my face growing hot as I gripped the wall for support. _No...no, no, no, no..._

I stumbled into my parents' bedroom, my knees buckling underneath me at the sight of it. Dark red matter splatterd one of the wall, nearly covering the entire thing. Their blood was everywhere, on the carpet, the fireplace, the windows...The bedsheets had been torn apart, glass decorating their matted carpet as I stared at their destroyed furniture. I crawled along the floor like some sort of broken animal, the air rushing out of me as I tried to collect bits and peices of a broken picture frame.

"I hate to say I told you so."

I whirled, backing up against the wall as Jamie stood in the doorway, staring at the blood on the wall.

"They didn't really die." he murmured. I didn't answer, trying to swallow the knot in my throat. "It's all fake blood. They had to go, but I promise they aren't dead. They knew everything, Hazel. They wouldn't have left unless they knew you were safe with us."

"They left me." I said quietly, my voice flat as my hands started to shake. Jamie knitted his eyebrows together, moving forwards.

"Hazel," he whispered, standing in front of me. I didn't answer. "Hazel, look at me. Can you please?" I did. "They _did _leave you. They _are _gone,"

"Stop it," I mumbled, trying to push him away.

"Hazel, they-"

"Quit!"

"They're gone!" he yelled, my eyes meeting his sadly. His expression softened as he crouched down in front of me. "They're gone and they're not gonna come back for you alright? Never," he watched me as I stared back at him, my breathing heavy. "You don't have to come with me but if you do I swear on my life I will never leave you." His cheeks started to burn bright red, his gaze unwavering. "I've never said it to anybody in my life but _I will not leave you._"

I looked to the floor as he stood again and backed away slightly, letting me soak in the offer.

"A lot of people have told me that," I said softly. "One of the perks of being adopted. They say they won't leave, they won't kick you out, they'll treat you differently than the last family. They never do. It's always just as bad as the one before it."

"And these people?" he asked, looking at a photo on the wall. I stared at my step-father's face, fury boiling in my stomach.

"He gets angry when he's drunk." I said simply, my voice cracking a little. Jamie clenched his jaw and his fists at the same time, not taking his eyes off the man.

"Hazel...you could get hurt if you come with me," he looked at me. "You could get hurt but not unless I'm dead first, do you understand?" he held out his hand.

"What if I say no?"

"Then I'll keep asking until you change your mind."

I watched him for a long moment. Where else did I have to go, anyways? I stretched my fingers out to meet his and he clasped my hand in his own, pulling me to my feet.

"What do we do?" I asked, gesturing to the broken house. "The cops are gonna come, aren't they? They'll be looking for their bodies. And mine." I pursed my lips as Jamie shrugged, pulling his stele out of his back pocket. He must've taken it back when I was knocked out. I watched as he drew an intricate, glowing mark on the side of the wall, the picture pulsating as he stepped away from it.

"We might want to get out of here." he grinned, pulling me into the hallway and down the steps.

"I don't get it," I huffed, looking back at the house as we walked away from it, Jamie's arm slung around my shoulders. The leaves crunched underneath our heavy shoes. "Nothing happened."

There was a loud crackling noise before light began to glow from the windows, pulsating just like the mark had. The entire house exploded within seconds. I flinched as bits of debris flew in every direction, the trees swaying back and forth.

"You couldn't have been a little more subtle?!" I asked, pulling away from Jamie and watching the house in disbelief as it smoldered. Jamie shrugged, pulling on my arm. He smiled.

"Subtle's not exactly my style."


	5. You're Joking, Right?

"This is your room."

I slid past Jamie uneasily, meeting his eyes for a moment as our chests brushed. The room he'd shown me to, the room that was supposedly mine now, was just as beautiful as the rest of the Institute. The walls were a dark cherry wood, intricate carvings of angels and demons etched across all four sides of the room. A large four-post bed sat in front of a wide window, a matching dresser and desk on the opposite side.

My days had been filled with Training, drawing, learning, even arguing. I'd studied every creature known to their world, every Rune ever created, and I loved it. I'd learned everything, even the type of person living a Shadowhunter life would turn you into.

Darren Lam, the most arrogant and competitive eighteen year-old I'd ever met, was an even bigger asshole than Jamie and his Dad combined. (Which was really saying something.) He had to be the best at everything, lost at nothing, and when it came to his twin sister Lucy, would give anything.

Lucy was only a nicer, prettier version of Darren. Her silky black hair stopped at her shoulders and gleamed in the sunlight, a thick layer of lipgloss always coating her small, pouty mouth. She and Darren shared the same dark brown eyes, rimmed with lashes so long they brushed the tops of their cheeks when they blinked, their yellow-creamy skin humming with vibrancy whenever they smiled.

Heaven was head over heels in love with Lucy. If you couldn't tell by the way she stared at her, you could tell by the way her voice went up an octave whenever she talked about her, or the way her Amber eyes sparkled with glee when her name was brought up. Heaven was small, almost as short as Clary at four foot four with light brown hair that hung to her waist in long, thick waves. If you caught her in the right light, you could spot the dusting of freckles that danced along her nose.

Aaron was hilarious. He didn't mean to be, of course. If anything he was ridiculously awkward and clumsy, but considering his size you'd think he was the type to say nothing and still control the entire room. Aaron was huge at nearly six foot four, with the shoulders of a linebacker and muscles that put Hercules to shame. His lazy lower lip dipped close to the dimple in his chin, his dark brown eyes always holding either extreme sadness or extreme joy. He was a bit moody.

Then of course there was Anastasia, in which case the word "pretty" wasn't enough. She looked just like her mother, with long, glossy black hair and dangerous black eyes that cut at you if you spoke to her in the wrong tone. Her lips were wide and full, always matted with some peachy color that matched her high cheekbones. She had perfect eyebrows, (Which she claimed she never had to pluck in her life, although I swear she's lying because when she did mine I came out looking fantastic) and a small, buttony nose that wrinkled in disgust whenever she lost her way.

I slipped my shoes off, wriggling my feet in the warm beige carpet and grinning.

"This is mine? You're sure?" I asked, looking up at the painted angels on the ceiling. Jamie smiled at me.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it."

"Good. But for now I'm going to steal you away. There's something else I want to show you."

I rolled my eyes and took one last look at the room before following him out into the hallway, watching him close the door. He tugged lightly on my arm, starting towards the Armory. We passed the Open Square, Jamie's girlfriend grinning and waving as she skipped by us, her long black hair tickling her ribs.

"Where's your Anastasia off to, shouldn't you be with your girlfriend?" I asked, a little too much edge to my tone. Jamie knitted his eyebrows together.

"Girlfriend?" he laughed. I rolled my eyes.

"Not the kind of guy who likes titles?"

"Not the kind of guy who likes dating his own cousins."

"You're joking."

"Absolutely not!

"Oh my God..." I started giggling like a three year old, embarassment bubbling through me as my cheeks flushed red.

"Was someone jealous?" Jamie asked slyly, looking over his shoulder at me as we slipped through an iron door, the walls turning to stone around us. I rolled my eyes and swatted at him.

"Someone was curious, you ass."

"Ahuh. Curious."

I made no reply as we jogged down the steps, Jamie swatting at cobwebs behind me.

"So...uhm..."

"What is it?" I asked, glancing at him as he turned a corner.

"Well we all know that _I'm _not dating Anastasia...but..."

"But what?"

"But what about that kid you've been with since I found you?"

"Anthony?" I asked, my chest clenching. I hadn't seen him since my birthday party, and I hadn't wanted to. What if I found him the same way I'd found my parents...gone?

"So that's his name..." Jamie grumbled. "He sounds like a tool."

"You don't know him."

"And you do? You looked like you couldn't even stand to look at him." He laughed. I groaned and crossed my arms as we walked.

"Didn't you have something to show me?" I demanded, changing the subject. Jamie smirked and grabbed at my wrist, taking me around another corner.

"Well Simon and I were talking the other day with my parents," he started excitedly, dropping my hand and pulling a ring of keys out of his pocket. "None of us can really figure out what you are, right? Well Simon's got a theory."

"And what is this theory?" I asked warily, watching him unlock an iron gate. Jamie grabbed the bars with one hand, holding the door open and turning to me.

"When you were out, you slept for almost a week," he admitted. "Nobody wanted to say anything at first because we were afraid of how you'd react..."

"No shit..." I grumbled. Jamie shot me a look. "Sorry, sorry."

"Anyways," he said pointedly. "Since you've been back we've been trying to teach you about every creature known to our world, and none of the adults want me to tell you anything more than what you need to know...but what you need to know is subjective."

"Just get to the point, Jamie!" I demanded. He rolled his eyes.

"Your parents were werewolves. And we think, well...we almost know for sure, that when your mom was pregnant she drank angel blood."

"Like your parents."

"Yeah, except your Mom was dealing with something way crazier. She was dealing with the Angel of Heavenly Fire."

"Nathaniel?" I asked, disbelief washing over me. Isabelle had told me everything about him, about what he created, what he controlled, what he was made of, and the idea of him running through my veins was terrifying.

"When a Shadowhunter is born with more angel blood than usual, they get some pretty kick ass gifts. My Dad is the greatest Shadowhunter that ever lived, and supposedly I could be the next. But you, Hazel...I mean we've only heard of one half-demon half-angel before and we can't even figure out whether or not it's a myth. We've never seen anything like you."

"What does your Mom do?" I asked as he disappeared into the Armory.

"We can both make up our own runes. Although I have to admit, she's a lot better at it than I am." he smiled sheepishly at me, poking his arm out and pulling up his sleeve where a ragged, burgundy, rune scar covered his forearm.

"What happened?"

"Rune gone wrong," he shrugged, before disappearing again. "If they aren't drawn properly they can permanently burn you. And sometimes kill you, if you're not careful." He emerged from the Armory, a wide grin plastered across his face.

"May I ask why you're so excited? Or did blowing up my house finally relieve you of your usual douchebag duties?" I asked slyly, smirking. Jamie shot me a look before pulling out a heavy black bag and slinging it over his shoulder, grabbing my hand and yanking me up the stairs.

"Unfortunately most douche-baggery was drained out of my bloodline with the birth of my Father." Jamie said bluntly, not letting go of my hand as he led me through the corridors.

"Someone sounds bitter." I commented.

"You would be too if you spent your entire life living up to the expectations of someone who's never known what it is to fail."

"Everyone fails at some point."

"Not me," he said flatly, stopping in his tracks and staring at me seriously. "Never have. Never will."

"Jamie everybody fails-"

"No," he said more harshly. "_I do not fail._ Lightwoods are impeccable."

"So the douchebag duties return." I shot, pulling my hand out of his. Jamie knit his eyebrows together in a mix of anger and confusion.

"I spend six times as much time training as the rest of my friends. You don't understand what it's like to be in that damn Training room _every _day, _every_ night, _every _hour, wishing _every _second that you could just be good enough already. "

"I don't?" I raised my eyebrows. "Do you think half the people back home would even look at me twice if I hadn't shoved myself towards all their expectations?"

"Oh please," Jamie cried, throwing his hands into the air and looking away. "Save your petty high-school I-just-wanna-fit-in crap and get with the fact that you're not that girl anymore! This is a completely different life and a completely different set of expectations. There's more to life than lip gloss and falling in love. You've spent your entire life hiding behind what you thought everyone else has wanted you to be."

The corridor was silent for a moment as Jamie's expression softened, his eyes lowering as he scratched the back of his neck, his mouth opening to say something before I cut him off.

"I guess we have more in common than we think, then." I hissed, shoving past him. I was lucky enough to know we were headed towards the Library or else I would've had another embarassing recap of my first attempt at escape.

Heaven smiled up at us as Jamie and I shoved through the large wooden doors, all of our friends scattered amongst the books and tables. Lucy sat on Heaven's desk, her twin Darren leaning against the portal and laughing loudly with the broad-shouldered and tall Aaron, who's dark brown eyes lowered slightly when I walked past him. Anastasia stood from her seat and grabbed my arm, slinging me into her chair.

"We were so excited we couldn't even wait, Jamie wasn't supposed to get the bag until next week when you got more settled but come on who can really keep a secret around here and plus it's just so exciting having another girl here not that Heaven and Lucy aren't cool but I mean how often do you find another girl who has the exact same taste in shoes an-"

"Ignore her, she forgets to breathe sometimes." Isabelle smiled, clamping a hand over her daughter's mouth. Simon, her husband, squatted in front of me and studied my face.

"Wow," he murmured, smiling lightly. "You look _exactly _like your parents...a near perfect blend."

"Uhm...thank you..."

"You're creeping her out, Dracula," Jamie commented, raising an eyebrow and scooting Simon aside with one hand. "Let's get to the point."

With one swift motion, Jamie flung his arms and the black bag swung open, unraveling on the table in front of me. My eyes went wide as a dozen glittering, silver weapons clattered together on my desk. I shot them all a look.

"You're joking, right?"

"Afraid not," Jace replied, sliding down one of the banisters and leaning against the table. Clary pecked Jamie on the cheek before standing beside her husband, who studied me just as Simon had. "Every Shadowhunter has a generic weapon, if not one of personal preference."

"Personal preference?"

"Izzy's been using an electrum whip since she was fourteen," Simon shrugged. "Jace really likes the Seraph blades. It varies depending on how you fight."

"Fight?!" I shot out my seat, shaking my head. I'd seen all of them in the Training room, learning the basics as each of them jumped and twisted and roared and kicked and swung. I was lucky if I could walk in a straight line when sober. "You're joking, right? I can't fight to save my life."

"You've never _had _to save your own life." Jamie retorted, staring at me as if I were stupid.

"Well excuse me for not running into a death trap every time the option presents itself. Idiocy is not one of my defining traits."

"Maybe not," he replied calmly, crossing his arms. "But being a raging brat clearly is."

"Will you two stop?" Clary demanded, swatting at the back of his head. "Jamie you're worse than your Father."

"No one's worse than Jace." Simon muttered bitterly. Jace shot him a look.

"The point is," Izzy said loudly and pointedly. "Each Shadowhunter has a tendency to choose a weapon that they feel..._speaks _to their fighting style."

"You don't understand, I _can't _fight like you guys. You're fast and graceful and-"

"And her body sticks out too much for agility." Stasi commented, poking my butt. I swatted at her hand and shot her a look, Jamie chuckling in the background as I sank back into my seat.

"Alright, we get it, I'm fat." I grumbled.

"You're not fat," Izzy protested, pulling me back to my feet. "You're just a little curvy. Your mother was, you know. And she was a great fighter."

"That's because when she had to fight she turned into a giant dog." someone muttered.

"Will you shut up?!" I yelled at Jamie, who raised his hands in defense.

"Since you don't think that you can fight maybe we should put you in a simulation," Darren suggested slyly, raising an eyebrow at me and grinning. "You know, like...a scenario."

"What kind of scenario?"

"One in which your life is in danger."


	6. At Least You Didn't Die!

**The Son of Flynn- Tron OST**

**Recognizer- Tron OST**

**Omen- The Prodigy**

**Faint-Linkin Park**

* * *

"This is definitely not fair." I grumbled, clenching the five inch dagger in my right hand. Heaven, Lucy, Darren, Aaron, Jamie, and a few other of the Institute's students stood in a clock formation, with me as the twelve. The tension in the Training Room buzzed with electricity as the air around me grew thicker by the minute, my heart already racing with fear.

"When you're facing a demon it's almost never fair." Heaven said instructively, taking on the roll of my tutor as she pulled her crossbow off of her back and began to load it. My eyes went wide.

"For the demon, that is." Jamie cut in.

"Not everyone's as good as you _think _you are, Jamie." Anastasia shot, a hint of jealousy in her voice. Jamie stuck his tongue out at her and grinned.

"What about you, what do you fight with?" I asked her, my eyes skimming over Aaron's axe, resting heavily across his broad shoulders.

"I've been begging my Mom to give me her electrum whip for years now," she sighed, unsheathing her Hunga Munga from it's holder on her hip. My jaw hit the floor. "They only make these things in Africa, and it has a funny name, so I just call it Elephant."

"Elephant?" I asked shunningly, raising an eyebrow. Anastasia rolled her eyes.

"Obviously named after the shape of the country, duh."

I could've sworn I heard Simon sigh in disappointment behind us.

"Hunga Shmunga," Darren boombed, a cocky expression on his face as he waved his Morning Star at me. "Let's get this show on the road."

"You guys aren't actually gonna hurt me, right?"

"How else are we supposed to learn what you're made of?" Heaven demanded. Being the oldest, I would assume she'd be the most reasonable, but clearly I'd been wrong.

"You guys could kill me with those things! And all I have is this damn knife!"

"Not true," Jace interuppted, appearing in the rafters with Isabelle, a cluster of weapons in her hands. I raised my eyebrows at him. "The best way to figure out which weapon works best for you is to fight with all of them. We'll be tossing you a new one every few minutes or so."

"This is insane." I mumbled, staring at everyone around me.

"We've all had to do it," Jamie shrugged. "You're one of us now, remember? Just try to protect that pretty face."

"Try not to aim for it, you Ass." I hissed.

"You should be a little more confident in your strength, shouldn't you?"

"I'm not strong enough to take on seven Shadowhunters."

"Let's hope you're quick on your feet then."

Everyone moved at once. I nearly dropped my dagger as an arrow came soaring dangerously close to my right cheek, Heaven's eyes dead set on me as she advanced, already reloading her crossbrow. Anastasia came from my right, swinging the African blade so broadly that just as I flung myself underneath the table, the wood split in half above me. I scrambled to my feet, Lucy appearing out of thin air and swinging one of her Sai blades at my throat. I met her other one with my dagger, instinctively kicking at one of her shins and wincing at the popping noise that followed. She buckled, and I shoved her behind me as Anastasia swung again, nearly hitting Lucy in the face.

I rounded into an entrance in the maze they'd built years earlier for escape maneuver scenarios, slamming the door behind me and jumping as the blade of Aaron's axe peirced the wood inches away from my face. I ran. Pounding came from all sides of the room as the blood rushed through my head, and I tried to focus all of my attention on what I'd learned within the past week and a half. Keeping the dagger at eye level, I held my other palm wide open at the side of my face, blocking it off.

Darren's Morning Star lodged itself into the wood of the wall as I rounded a corner and I ducked underneath his arm, kicking his leg out from underneath him and stomping on his bicep before running again. I rounded another corner, and then another before it dawned on me that it was completely and utterly pointless. I was evading my attackers when there was no escape. We'd be in here for minutes, hours, all night maybe if that's how long it took them to catch me. I needed to switch to offense.

I leaned against the wall and took a steady breath before pressing myself flat against the wood, my dagger at my side. There were footsteps coming from either side of the maze hall, and I realized that in moments I'd be ambushed. I scooted to the right as much as I could, trying to quiet my breath as Darren approached, grumbling irritably to himself. I leapt out from behind the wall, Darren's fist slamming into my gut as he swung the Morning Star over his head, lodging it in the wall inches above my own. _Fight! _A voice whispered in the back of my mind. _It isn't enough to just escape, you have to fight!_

I grunted and brought my knee in between Darren's legs, smacking him across the jaw with the hilt of my dagger as his knees buckled underneath him. I ripped the Morning Star from the wall and ran with it, Lucy rounding the corner seconds later. She was limping, but still dangerous. Her eyes flickered to Darren on the floor, anger gleaming behind them as she swung her blades viciously at me, advancing with every swish of air. I backtracked so far that I toppled over Darren, who'd pulled a knife from his back pocket and stabbed it hard at my leg. I moved at the last second, the blade slicing through my pants and leaving a long, thin cut. I kicked him hard in the jaw, Lucy leaping over him, one of her blades landing in the floor by my face.

I brought the heel of my palm into her chin, wrapping the other around the back of her neck and pulling her over so that I was on top of her, my legs straddling her torso. She ripped one of her Sai blades from the ground and arced it near my face, grunting when I swung my body underneath it and pinned her arm to the ground. I snatched the blade from her hand, reaching for the other when Darren ripped me away from her body, throwing me through one of the plaster walls. I groaned, a crossbow falling next to my face as I rolled to my side. Without thinking, I grabbed it, turned it towards the advancing Darren, and shot.

A large splatter of paint hit him square in the chest, bright blue liquid trailing down the front of his clothes.

"Awwe man," he groaned. "I hate being out!"

"Are you kidding me?!" I shrieked, looking up at Jace and Izzy. "They get a chance to kill me with fully loaded weapons, and I get _paintballs?!_"

"We told you it wouldn't be fair." I turned at the sound of Heaven's voice as one of her arrows split through the air, grazing my shoulder. I scrambled to my feet, trying to reload my own weapon... but I was out of paint.

They'd only given me one damn shot. I ran backwards through the maze, Lucy's Sai blade slicing off a lock of my hair as I ducked around her.

"How many times do I have to hit you?!" I demanded, my eyes wide as I realized I had no weapons.

"Until I'm out." she shrugged, swinging at me agian and smiling apologetically. I eyed the bright blue neon packet in the center of her chest. I'd have to pop it to get rid of her. Lucy swung at me again and this time I caught her arm, using it as a sheild when another one of Heaven's arrows came sailing through the hole I'd left in the wall. Lucy shrieked, dropping to her knees as it hit her. I quickly pulled it out, leaning her against the wall.

"I'm sorry," I breathed, using the tip of the arrow to pop her paint packet. "I'm really sorry, Luce."

"S'okay," she pouted, examining her arm. "You're doing really well, don't forget there are others. Go on, go!" she shooed me away, handing me the Sai blades as I went.

I rounded another corner, this time ready for the small blonde girl I'd seen in one of my classes at the Institute. She had two short knives in her hand and was jabbing at lightening speed, one of them catching me in the hip before I crossed the Sai blades in front of my face, trapping her. I shifted to the left, sending the girl crashing to the floor and kneeling on top of her, I snatched her knives away and split her packet. Jace tossed me a long, silvery chain from above. The metal gleamed in my hands, and Izzy began to murmur something above me. A chain?! What in gods name was I supposed to do with a chain?! I watched, mezmerized as the metal turned from silver to gold at my touch. I looked back up at them as if to ask what the Hell kind of gift it was supposed to be when Izzy's eyes went wide, and Aaron's axe flew into the air, hiding her face from my view. I rolled onto my side, the blade of his weapon striking the floor precicesly where I'd been laying. I grabbed onto the middle of Aaron's axed, trying to yank it from the floor before he could strike again, but he was too strong. He swatted at me with his right arm, sending me crashing into the wall, chunks of plaster falling out on top of me as I got to my feet.

Aaron yanked his axe from the ground, watching me.

"You ready?"

I nodded.

We began to run to each other, and as I reached mid-stride, Anastasia's Elephant sliced through the back of my jacket, sending me crashing to my left. The blade sent me so far I rolled at least three times. I could feel my shoulder blades buring from where her weapon had grazed me. When I'd flown, my chain had unraveled, the tip of it ending at her feet. I watched as she sashayed towards me down the long hall, waiting until she picked up her foot before twisting the chain and yanking it. The cold metal wrapped around her foot and I pulled harshly, sending her to her ass. Aaron ran his axe through the metal and the chain links split, severing the hold I had on her as I yanked her Elephant from the wall, staggering to my feet.

Things weren't looking too good. I was getting exhausted, I could feel parts of my body already beginning to bruise, but as I heaved for air, my face red and sweaty, there was only one thing that kept coming back into my mind. _I love this._

Aaron charged towards me and roared as he swung his axe in an uppercut through the air. I ducked underneath it, twisting and slicing across his back with the Elephant. He cried out in pain, swinging his axe around so quickly that I had to duck, the air bristling above my head where he'd just missed me. Anastasia grabbed me from behind, part of the chain still wrapped around her ankle as Aaron swung a fist at me. I met his hand with my foot, kicking hard at his chin with the other so hard he reeled backwards. When my feet touched the ground again I stood on my tippytoes, thanking God that I was taller than Stasi was, and threw her over my shoulders and onto the ground, stomping on her packet. It exploded, and she grabbed her chest.

"Owwww," she cried, wincing. "My boob!" I rolled my eyes, helping her to her feet before I rested my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath while Aaron pulled his axe out of the wall. I didn't have the energy to fight him right now, I needed a minute, maybe two. So I decided to run.

I spun on my heels and headed in a direction I hadn't yet gone, running across two other young Shadowhunters from the Institute. I elbowed away a boy's sword as it came down upon me, wrapping my otherhand around his neck so that I could bring his face down to my knee. He fell, the impact crushing his packet. A pair of chakrams landed at my feet and as I reached to grab them, a young Shadowhunter attempted to jab me with a featherstaff. I brought up one of the bladed rings, slicing her staff in half and kicking her hard in the chest, splitting her packet wide open and falling over. I crabwalked backwards, right into the legs of Heaven. I stared up at her, an arrow pointed directly at my face.

I rolled to the left and her foot met the side of my jaw before I could even blink. It sent me all the way to my right side. I grabbed one of the chakrams, dragging it across her shin. She hissed, jumping backwards and giving me just enough time to tackle her legs, sending us both sprawling across the floor. I sliced away her packet within seconds, scrambling over her before she had a chance to speak. _Two more to go, _I thought to myself, praying that I'd make it through without losing any limbs.

Jace whistled, and as I looked up, tossed me a dull, blunt, clear tube. I looked down the hallway of the maze, Aaron's heavy footsteps growing closer. I waved the tube around in the air, waiting for some sort of blade to come out. Nothing happened.

"Say the name!" Izzy called as Aaron appeared into view, charging at me. "SAY THE DAMN NAME!"

"_Michael," _I hissed hurriedly. Nothing happened. "_Michael!"_ I looked back up at Jace and Izzy desperately, both of their expressions plastered with confusion. Jace gripped the top of the rafter until his knuckles turned white, his eyes wide. "MICHAEL!"

Nothing. Aaron turned his axe to the side, smacking so hard in the back with it that I flew first face into the wall, my nose protesting painfully as it smacked the plaster. I hit my back on the floor, rolling out of the way just as Aaron swung again. I threw the useless tube straight into his face, smacking him in the eye with it. While he was distracted, I grabbed the Chakrams again, slicing the pole of his axe in half. Now it was his turn to look worried. He rubbed his bad eye, balling his hands into fists and motioning for me to come to him. I edged forward, Aaron rocking back on his heels as I swung a Chakram at him. He jumped, grabbing my arm and knocking me back into the wall. I hit the side of my face this time, my brain rattling in the back of my skull. I yanked myself underneath his arm, spinning and grazing his outer bicep with one of my rounded blades. He grunted, trying to reach under his own arm to grab me, but I spun, slicing his hand. Aaron was starting to get pissed. He advanced, using one hand to grab my throat and the other to grab the front of my jacket before throwing me right through the plaster wall of the maze and back onto the Training floor. I hit the ground hard, moaning for a moment in the heap of rubble when I heard his footsteps once more.

With the Chakrams far out of my reach, I snatched up a light, sharp peice of plaster, running my finger over the edge before rolling onto my back and throwing it straight at his chest. It hit him square in the packet, and in seconds the animosity on his face had vanished, as if he were a completely different person.

"Darn it." he mumbled, sounding like a three year old as he sulked off. I leaned my head back against the rubble, sighing. I had done it. I was alive.

"Don't get too comfortable." A mix of irritation and anguish filled me as Jamie's voice floated into my ears and I scrambled to my feet, glaring at him as he grinned.

"I forgot about you." I hissed. He pretended to look hurt.

"Don't be stupid, Hazel. Nobody could forget about me." He raised an eyebrow at me, a smug look on his face as he pulled out a tube just like the one Jace had thrown me earlier. I looked up at Jamie's father, who whispered something to Isabelle before she threw me another tube.

"These don't work." I said hurriedly to Jamie, who looked amused.

"They don't?" he asked innocently. "_Joseph."_ as Jamie said the name, his tube roared to life, sprouting a glowing, blue blade that seemed to pulsate like a heartbeat. I didn't know whether to be entranced or terrified. I scanned the side of my tube, looking for the name.

"_Ezekial."_I whispered.

Nothing. Fucking. Happened. "_Ezekial!" _I commanded, staring down at my tube. Jamie looked puzzled, watching me as I swore loudly, throwing the useless tube across the room. I sprinted to the Chakrams, scooping them up just in time for Jamie to body slam me into the pile of punching bags they kept in the corner. We wrestled around as he straddled me, the heel of my palm coming up to his nose. He groaned as a snap rang through the air, and as he tid backwards to grab his face I punched him in the breast bone, shoving him off of me and running. I yanked his already glowing sword off of the ground and threw it at him with deadly aim.

The blade should've landed directly in the center of his packet.

Except there was no blade. The second I touched the hilt, it disappeared.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Jamie pulled a long dagger from his back pocket, advancing on me, a dark ferocity glittering in his eyes that I'd never seen before. He wasn't going to go easy on me, that was for sure. He swung at me, knicking the side of my jaw with his blade as I moved around his arm and hit him in the windpipe. Jamie looked as though the blow hadn't even occurred, still swinging with deadly precision, small cuts appearing all over my exposed skin. I ducked underneath his arm as he yanked the back of my collar, slamming me against the wall. His hands closed around my throat, his eyebrows knit together as if he were conducting an expirement instead choking the girl he'd swore he'd protect. The air was coming slower and slower, my cheeks turning a dangerous shade of red as I struggled against him. I could hear everyone protesting in the background, all with the exception of his Father, who watched curiously from the rafters, an identical expression on his face as his son's. He was going to kill me. He was really and truly going to kill me, maybe on accident, maybe on purpose, but _he was going to kill me. _ Aaron was walking over towards us, a concerned look on his face when I squeezed my eyes shut and clamped my hand down around Jamie's wrist.

That's when it happened. Heat shot out through my fingertips, a bright, golden light seeping through the spaces in between our skin. Every muscle inside of my body flexed, my toes curling as Jamie screamed, immediately releasing his hold on my throat and toppling backwards. I hit the floor hard, the side of my face aching against the concrete when my eyes focused on my hand. I was on fire. Not the burning, searing pain kind of fire, but _on fire, as in flames. _They licked at the air momentarily, golden and beautiful, dancing amongst my skin for a mere few seconds before disappearing once more. I looked up, Jamie stared at me wide eyed from his position on the floor. Jace was frozen above, along with everyone else in the room. It felt like days of silence had passed before Aaron spoke up cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood.

"Well, at least you didn't die!"


	7. Parabatai

I rubbed my eyes, yawning slightly as our teacher, Mrs. Carstairs, began chatting in the front of the room about the creation of Binding Runes, her long, sloped handwriting covering the chalkboard.

"Sleepy, are we?" Jamie asked, taking the seat next to me. I groaned, cutting my eyes at him.

"And irritated." I replied.

"You smell nice."

"Well, that's what happens when you take showers-you should try it sometime. You know, soap. Water. Scrubbing."

"Naked." Jamie finished, grinning. I rolled my eyes.

"Just because it's been twenty-four hours doesn't mean that I forgot you tried to strangle me."

"I wasn't actually going to kill you, Hazel," Jamie said as if I were stupid, taking out his books and setting them on the desk. "It was all an act for your fighting instincts."

"Yes well trust me you were pretty convincing when you had your hands wrapped around my throat."

Jamie sighed in exasperation and shoved his bookbag onto the ground a little too harshly, slumping into his seat. What a temper tantrum.

"Being a baby again?" Stasi asked, plopping down at the desk in front of us, a girl with short, cropped hair sitting next to her.

"When isn't he being a baby?" the girl asked bitterly.

"Shut your trap Elena," Jamie shot. "Your inner bitch is showing."

"Did you just call me a bitch?!" Elena demanded, whirling around in her seat and glaring at him with ice blue eyes. Jamie smirked.

"Sorry, I didn't know it was supposed to be a secret."

"Have you always been this mood-swingy?" I interjected, glancing at him and flipping a page in my textbook. Jamie opened his mouth but Anastasia answered for him.

"Yes," She grinned. "The only difference now is that he's open about it."

"Open?"

"Yeah," Aaron smiled behind us, causing me to turn around. "Jamie used to be kinda quiet to be honest, but since you got here we can't shut him up."

"I'll shut my foot up your ass if you don't cut it ou-"

"Mr. Lightwood, something to share?" Mrs. Carstairs interrupted. Jamie took a look at the board and used whatever excuse he could find there.

"Yes, actually," he started, grinning charmingly. I rolled my eyes. Whoever fell for that smile was an idiot. _That would make everyone on Earth an idiot, then..._I thought quietly to myself. "My eighteenth birthday is coming up, it just dawned on me that I'm running out of time if I want to choose a _parabatai."_

Mrs. Carstairs' eyebrows shot up and she crossed her arms, whispers flying around the room. I glanced at Anastasia, silently asking what the big deal was.

"Mr. Lightwood," Mrs. Carstairs' mused, clearly surprised. "I would've never expected."

"Doubting someone's ability to keep up with me?" Jamie asked slyly.

"Doubting your ability to take care of someone else, actually." she retorted. Jamie's face fell.

"I could take care of someone if I wanted to."

"When have you ever wanted to?" Elena demanded, glancing over her shoulder in disgust.

"Jamie's one of the best Shadowhunters I've ever seen," came a voice from the right side of the room. I looked over to Xavier Denim and his wild blonde hair, who'd chosen to defend Jamie in this instance. "He's saved my ass more times than I can count."

"I'm sure Mr. Lightwood is a more than generous young man," Mrs. Cairstairs smiled gently, trying to help. "It's just surprising, seeing as he likes to work alone."

"Who would you want as a _parabatai _anyways?" Stasi asked. Clearly everyone else in the room had the same question, because they all stared curiously, waiting for an answer. Jamie made a motion across his mouth, sealing his lips before leaning back in his chair.

Although the class went on as usual, Mrs. Carstairs continuing her Binding rant, the only thing I could seem to focus on was Jamie's answer, or lack thereof. Who _would _he want as a _parabatai?_ Although I'd only known him for about two weeks, and I wasn't the best fighter, there was still a small sliver of hope in the pit of my soul that he would choose me. I mean yes, he was annoying, and yes, he was a tool on a regular basis, often making sex jokes at my expense, but I still...I don't know, cared? _No._ I shot firmly to myself. _Absolutely not. There is not caring here. There never will be._ I shook the feeling of Jamie away from me and focused on the board, not really seeing anything until the bell rang and Anastasia stood in front of me.

"Earth to Hazel!" she cried, waving her hand in front of my face. I jumped slightly, Jamie shooting me a look as he stood and slung his backpack over one shoulder. I threw all of my books in my bag, following all of them as they flooded the corridor.

"Who the Hell would Jamie want as his _parabatai?"_ Izzy asked, furrowing her brow as we told her what had happened in class. We were gathered in the Common Room, Jace and Clary perched on the loveseat in between the bookshelves.

"He won't tell," Stasi mused, tapping her fingers on the back of his neck as she walked behind his seat on the couch. "He's such a man of mystery." Jamie rolled his eyes.

"I wouldn't tell the _entire class, _I never said I'd just tell all of you."

Even though I hadn't been studying with them at the Institute for long, I couldn't help hold onto Jamie's phrase: 'All of you.' Meaning us, meaning Aaron and Lucy and Darren and Stasi and Heaven and I, and as we sat there, bored, drowning in homework, and raging with hormones, I couldn't help but feel like for the first time in my life I had real, genuine friends. I liked it.

"Well who is it then?" Darren demanded, hope flickering in his tone. For the first time in my life, I felt bad for him.

"That's the problem, I don't know." Jamie laughed. Clary knitted her eyebrows together and he shrugged lightly. "I guess I've thought about it before but never really decided. I'm not that close to anyone."

Aaron frowned at this.

"Don't get me wrong!" Jamie started, sitting up and trying to fix his words. "I love you guys, I mean it, I just...I don't know, I've never worried about who was worthy of fighting for me, I've always worried about who I was worthy of fighting _for. _I'd lay my life down for any of you."

"You don't have to have one, you know. I never wanted one until Clary came along," Izzy mused, tapping her chin. "I was three days away from eighteen when we decided. One of the best choices I've ever made."

"What about Aaron?" Stasi suggested. "You've known me and him the longest."

"I could never keep up with Jamie." Aaron laughed. Jamie pursed his lips, trying not to giggle.

"Darren?"

"They'd get way too competitive," Clary interjected. "If a demon didn't kill them, they'd kill each other."

"What about Hazel? You're both freakshows." Lucy offered, smiling.

"No," Jamie shot, ice lodging into my chest as he said it. "Absolutely not."

"Why?" I demanded, glaring at him. "I can fight just fine, I know I'm not the best but I can learn easy an-"

"It's not your decision to make!" Jamie cried, throwing his hands up. "You don't have any say in it."

"I just want to know why you do-"

"You can't argue me into wanting to be your partner!"

I felt like Donkey when Shrek wouldn't let him in the house. Alone, and very, very rejected. Everyone stared at the floor awkwardly, Heaven standing and rocking back and forth on her heels.

"I want you to do it," Jamie said hurriedly, looking at her. "I want you to be my _parabatai."_

"Really?" Heaven asked, her eyebrows shooting upwards. Jamie nodded.

"You know me better than anyone." he shrugged. Heaven smiled at him as Clary slid off her husband's lap, pursing her lips.

"Well it's settled then," she said calmly, looking at her son. Jace was staring at him through narrowed eyes. "If you don't mind, Jamie, your Father would like a word with you."


	8. Cursed

**~Clary POV~**

* * *

As usual, what was supposed to have been a casual Father-to-Son talk had turned into a screaming match. Jamie sat in the large chair next to the fire, his arms crossed over his chest defiantly as Jace paced in front of him.

"...any idea how idiotic it is?! Any idea..." he was ranting, his cheeks turning a hilarious shade of red as I waited for him to calm down.

"Is it really that bad, Love?" I interjected, Jamie shooting me a thankful look. Jace looked like his head was going to explode, his beautiful face twisted into a grimace.

"Of COURSE it's that bad!" he cried. "Out of all the girls you've had, son, _all _of them, why does it have to be-"

"I just didn't want her to be my damn _parabatai!_ She can barely even fight Dad, and I've known Heaven for years, God, just because I hate the girl doesn't mean I-"

"Oh don't you think for one second you have me as well fooled as everyone else, Son. Let us all remember that I'm the one who _taught you how to lie."_

"Exactly," Jamie shot icily. "Then you should know I'm telling the truth." I sighed as Jace turned to me, his demeanor suddenly calm. It was frightening, the way he could change moods so quickly. My husband bit his lip.

"We have to tell him."

"Not now," I defied, shaking my head rapidly. "Absolutely no-"

"You know it's the right ti-"

"...think I'm telling him? I refu-..."

"...drive him mad and if we do-..."

"-I'm not doing it, I am NOT doing it I refuse to say a wo-..."

"...God's sake Clary we have no other cho-"

"YOUR FATHER MADE A DEAL WITH SATAN."

The words came tumbling out of my mouth before I could stop them, Jace freezing, his jaw hitting the floor. I pulled my lips into a tight line and shrugged, crossing my arms.

"You asked for it."

"Oh...my...GOD!" he exclaimed. "Are you out of your damn mind?!"

"What?! You wanted me to tell hi-"

"Didn't want you to tell him like _that-"_

"You made a deal with Satan?!" Jamie cried, his eyes going wide.

"Yes." I shot, at the same time Jace said "No." My husband shot me a look before I raised my hands in defense.

"_I _did not make a deal with anybody, and the deal was not made with _Satan_ who in God's name told you that?" Jace demanded, looking at me. I rolled my eyes.

"Satan, Batan, Matan, they're all the same."

"They are all _not_ the same," Jace countered. "Anyways, like I said, it wasn't me."

"Who was it then?" Jamie asked, knitting his eyebrows together. He looked so much like his Father that I couldn't repress the small smile forming at my lips.

"Valentine."

Jamie clenched his jaw slightly. He'd heard the stories. I had no choice but to tell him. How else could I explain why Jace kept him in the Training Room for days at a time? How else could I explain that his Father rarely, if ever, showed him affection? Jace had never been taught how to be a Father, and even though Jamie knew he loved him I could tell that there had been days where he'd had his doubts. Jace cleared his throat, glancing at me worriedly, although this had been his idea. I moved to stand beside him, linking my arm in his own.

"When Valentine was experimenting, he used endless amounts of Angel blood. It was unreal how much of it he'd wasted, corrupted. He used to make me drink full cups at a time, sometimes so much I'd be sick to my stomach," he winced at the memory, Jamie watching him stone-faced. "There was a reason Valentine had taught me that to love was to destroy."

"Because Grandma broke his heart when she left." Jamie finished, shrugging. Jace shook his head.

"Not entirely. It's because angel blood, no matter how pure, comes at a price. Sometimes a devastating one."

"What are you talking about?"

"Have you ever known an Angel to spill his blood without reaping any sort of benefit?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. My son shook his head. "Exactly."

"When the Angels found out what Valentine was doing, they were horrified, however what had already been done couldn't be reversed. He had... no weaknesses, no fears, nothing you could use against him."

"Except for Grandma..." Jamie murmured, looking down, his expression concentrated as he began to put the pieces together.

"Valentine once made the mistake of summoning the archangel Rogziel, who brings about the Wrath of God. He tried to deceive him for his blood. Rogziel, already aware of Valentine's corruption, gave him his blood in one last test to make things right."

"I'm guessing it didn't go well?" Jamie asked pointedly, sarcasm dripping through his tone. Jace rolled his eyes.

"Obviously not. Valentine used the blood in an experiment to summon a demon and Rogziel cursed him thoroughly."

"May I ask what this curse is?" my son asked lazily. Jace glanced at me again before biting his lip.

"_In he who runs the blood of Rogziel shall be damned upon the heart until the seventh generation, in which the curse will be broken with the birth of the first son. The sons of men who precede the generation seventh shall bear many an infliction and injury, though none shall burden him like that upon his soul."_

Jamie stared at us for a moment as we waited for his reaction.

"So that's why we're the greatest Shadowhunter's to ever live. Because we fear nothing, we feel nothing. Our greatest weakness is-"

"Love," Jace cut in shortly, his eyes piercing. "And Jameson, if you aren't careful, it will tear you apart."

"This is stupid," Jamie said immediately, standing in his seat. "It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. The only thing I'd ever want with Hazel is to-"

"Excuse you!" I cried, interrupting him. He shot me an apologetic look.

"You're lying," Jace shot, walking over to face him. "You're lying and I can see in your eyes. You've known every ounce of the truth since the second you saw her, _you knew, _just as you know now."

"I don't know anything!" Jamie shouted.

"You don't feel, you don't think, you don't love, because the blood of Rogziel-"

"Shut up!"

"-runs through your veins as it does mine! It will be the biggest curse you will ever have to bear and will continue to be for the next four generations!"

"STOP IT!" Jamie screamed, whirling on his father. Jace froze, his expression stern as they stared at each other. It was like watching a mirror of time, I imagined, seeing yourself in the future and past, depending on which end you were staring from.

"I _don't _love her, and even if I did, you and Mom-"

"I nearly burned the Earth to it's core for your Mother," Jace said, his tone firm but wary. "Thank the Angels they were able rid me of the Heavenly Fire because it burns through your soul, Jameson. It eats at your rationality, do you understand that this girl is _composed _of it?! She is DANGEROUS, do you understand what the Clave will have us do to her when they find out she's here?There is no telling what she is, what she could do, what _you _would do once you fell in love with he-"

"I WILL NOT, AND AM NOT EVER, IN MY LIFE...going to have feelings for... Hazel," Jamie's voice trailed off of the walls, Jace watching him placidly. "But if you _ever _hand her over to the Clave...I will refuse to ever show my face here again."

Jace was silent, surprise washing over his expression as Jamie stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. The fire roared in the silence, bits of wood crackling every few seconds. My husband let out a huge sigh, running his hands over his face and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"It's your fault he's so stubborn." he muttered, leaning his head on my shoulder. I laughed.

"Not even a chance, there's no denying he's your son. If I can recall correctly, no one could talk us out of loving each other when we were his age."

"He doesn't understand, Clary. Neither do you," he looked at me gravely, sincere worry in his golden eyes. "There's never been a day in my life where I've regretted loving you, you're the best thing to ever happen to me-but we have to remember that this feeling, this bind, is a _curse._ In our culture, Shadowhunters already create stronger bonded relationships because of our tendency to have short life-spans, but this on top of it? You don't understand the lack of emotional attachment I had before I met you. I didn't feel _anything, _not in the slightest bit, and then, when I finally had you, well...you know what happened during the Second Uprising."

I grimaced. It wasn't something I liked to think about. Although it was nearly two decades ago, the memory of it haunted my mind. I took Jace's face in my hands and kissed him lightly.

"We'll figure it out," I whispered, snuggling against him. "We always do."

* * *

**~Jamie POV~**

I knocked on the apartment door in front of me, my dark brown hair dripping wet from the rain. Magnus looked surprised when he saw me, the door swinging wide open to reveal his pink and yellow striped pajama bottoms and matching tank top. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Don't you dare judge my fashion choices." he demanded, moving aside so I could walk into the apartment. Chairman Meow, the cat that should've died years ago in my opinion, rolled around at my feet for a few moments before a light brown tabby padded her way into the living room.

"Well _someone's_ a bit promiscuous." I commented, watching as Chairman Meow ditched me to go snuggle with the tabby cat. Magnus grinned at them.

"She's pregnant," he informed me happily. "Soon there will be tons of little Meow Jr's all over the place, isn't it exciting?"

"Riveting."

I slumped onto the couch, the cherry leather groaning against my weight. Leaning my head against the wall and closing my eyes, I listened to the cats purr on the floor near my feet, Magnus fixing tea in the kitchen.

"So what is it you're here for?" He called from two rooms over. "I know you're not prone to regular visits. Been sneaking out for solo demon hunting again?" he prodded. I snapped my eyes open, looking at him incredulously as he set the tea down on the table. No one was supposed to know about that.

"What?" he asked. "Please, don't act so surprised that I know. _Oh, look at me, I'm a tortured, angst-filled, teen soul, so I'm going to demon hunt on my own, throwing myself into horribly dangerous situations, hoping it will somehow redeem my blackened spirit."_

"I do _not_ sound like that." I grumbled, sipping my tea. Magnus rolled his eyes.

"Of course you do. You fling yourself into solo missions hoping it will make you a better person somehow. You know, until recently I didn't think anyone could be as stupidly reckless as your Father, but-"

"I'm not here to talk about my decision making abilities, Mag." I groaned. He raised his eyebrows.

"What is it then?"

"I need to know if the story about Valentine and Rogziel is true."

"So I'm guessing they told you the legend?"

"Well I didn't exactly find it on Google."

Magnus shot me a look, setting his tea down and propping his feet up on the table.

"I hate to inform you, Oh-Witty-One, but yes. It is true." There was a hint of sadness to his voice as I stared into my cup.

"What do I do?" I asked soberly, looking at him. "I can't stand her, Magnus, I swear I can't, but it's like that's my favorite thing about her, and I..."

"Are we talking about the little brown one from the Infirmary?" Magnus exclaimed, his eyes growing wide. "JAMIE! YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU WERE DOWN FOR THE CHOCONILLA SWIRL-"

"Excuse me?!" I cried, nearly choking on my tea. "Jesus, Mag."

"Well she's mixed, isn't she?"

"That's beside the point!"

"I just love her hair..."

"MAGNUS."

"Sorry, sorry...but really," he murmured, pulling the cats off of the floor and into his lap. "You think...I mean you think she could be your cursed one?"

"I don't know," I groaned, sighing. "I just don't..."

"You don't want to fall in love."

"Never." I confirmed, watching him. Magnus bit his lip.

"Feeling things is a natural part of existence, J," Magnus murmured. "Even if your love life is fated to doom us all."

"I don't _want_ to doom everyone!" I shouted. "I _want_ to be the greatest Shadowhunter who ever lived and leave it at that," I hissed. "I didn't ask for a girlfriend, I didn't ask to get tangled up in this mess, I didn't ask for her to be so pretty..."

"Yikes," Magnus winced. "You got it bad." I shot him a look. "She _is_ pretty, though. Looks so much like Maia." He agreed. I nodded silently. "What is it that you think I can do, Jamie?"

"You know what you can do," I said, eying the rune over his heart. "You were an emotional wreck after Alec's death...and I love you, Magnus, God I love you like you're family but what you went through is terrifying. I don't want to turn into that. So you tell me," I set the tea down and rubbed a hand over my face, watching him as tears started to brew in his eyes. "How do you quit using your heart?"

Magnus was quiet for a moment, a sad, hopeless tinge to his face. He knew we had no other option.

"Magnus," I repeated, pulling him out of his haze. "How...do you stop...using...your heart." Magnus watched me, his voice cracking slightly.

"It's obvious Jamie," he whispered. "You cut it out, of course."


	9. Seven

**~Hazel~**

* * *

"Those pants make your ass look fantastic," Anastasia whistled, tossing her long hair into a high ponytail. "Just throwing it out there."

"You think?" I asked, turning in the mirror so that I could get a good look at it. I didn't want to be cocky, I knew I had my fair share of flaws, but black denim _did _make it look really nice...

"Quit drooling over yourself." Darren teased, whisking into Stasi's room and sprawling out across her bed with his feet in the air, his chin cupped in his palms. Anastasia shot him an irritated look.

"What the Hell are you doing?"

"Asking if you'll be ready for the Carnival by the time the sun burns out."

"We aren't taking THAT long."

"You've been in here all morning and we leave in two hours."

"I'm going to leave my foot up your ass if you don't sto-"

"Let's not get hasty!"

"What do you want?"

"I want to be a part of girl's day!" Darren cried, pretending to look hurt. "So what's the four one one? Any cute boys? You've got a crush on that Darren kid, don't you Stasi? I must say, he is quite the looker-"

"Get out!" She yelled, throwing a brush dangerously close to his head. Darren laughed, dodging it easily and scooting out of the room before Stasi could get her hands on any more weaponry. I raised an eyebrow at her as she spun on her rollychair, facing the large vanity mirror once again.

"What was all that about?" I asked, pulling off my purple T-Shirt and shuffling through her large closet.

"He hasn't quit hitting on me since we were fifteen and I grew boobs," she grumbled. "He isn't even my type!"

"What's your type, then?" I asked idly, getting lost in her closet. Stasi didn't hesitate with her reply.

"Tall, blonde hair, blue eyes, light skin..."

I knit my eyebrows together, poking my head out of the closet.

"Sounds like you already have someone in mind." I said slyly, trying not to smile. Anastasia pursed her lips and wiggled her toes, staring at the floor. I coughed dramatically, raising my eyebrows even higher when she looked at me.

"OKAY!" she caved, throwing her head back. "He's so beautiful, and gorgeous, and tall, and...totally, completely off-limits."

"Off limits?"

"Not that it's stopped us..."

"Who's this mystery man?!" I demanded, yanking a black racerback tank top out of the closet and shrugging it on. "Come on, spill, spill."

"His name is Thomas," Stasi began, her eyes glittering as she spoke. "He's so beautiful, Hazel, like you wouldn't even believe. He's got these bright blue eyes, and they twinkle, and his hair is like...it looks like butter except more pretty and GOD his shoulders are so huge, they're flawless!"

"Does he belong to the Institute?" I asked, trying to remember if I'd seen anyone that beautiful at the school. Only one face flashed to my mind, and it wasn't Thomas'.

"No," she said sheepishly, biting her lip. "That's the thing...can you... I mean Hazel you have to swear not to tell anybody..."

"First of all, you've got dirt on me that could get me slaughtered, considering the fact that the Clave haven't even ever _heard _of my species," I laughed. "Second, you're my best friend. I wouldn't tell."

"I'm your best friend?" Stasi asked, her eyes growing wide. Heat flushed to my cheeks. I shouldn't have said that. What was I thinking? I'd only known her for a couple weeks, and here I was, calling her my-"EEEEEEEEEK!" Stasi interrupted my embarrassment by flinging herself at me, knocking us both onto the floor in the closet. "I'VE NEVER HAD A BEST FRIEND BEFORE!" She squealed, rolling off of me. "I mean Luce and Heaven are great, I love em to death but neither of them really understand shoes like you do, ya know? Plus they're always off in their own little worlds and they-"

"Stasi?" I asked, eying a large pile of books poorly hidden in the closet corner. "What are these?"

Stasi grew silent for a moment, her mouth opening slightly as she stuttered. I pulled the books over to us, heaving myself up into a sitting position. What in the Hell? Endless volumes of the Shadoworld Encyclopedia laid all across the floor, everything from _The Dawn of The Archangels _to _How to Shave a Werewolf_ were hidden in this pile. I eyed her suspiciously.

"You're a genius, aren't you?" I demanded. Stasi's face flushed.

"No," she stuttered loudly. "Those are stupid books my Dad wanted me to read, I just shoved them in the back of my closet cause they're so stupid, obviously the only important things in here are my vanity and all my shoes and sho-"

"Can it," I shot, giving her a look and closing one of the many encyclopedia's. "I get it now. Why you talk at a million miles a minute, I mean. It's because that's how your thoughts race, isn't it? You've got so much going on up there. No wonder you're all bossy like you know everything, it's because you _do _know everythi-"

"You think I'm bossy?!" she cried. I rolled my eyes, stretching my legs out in front of me and leaning back on my palms.

"Why would you want to hide how smart you are?"

"I used to get bullied. Almost every day. When I was younger, maybe like twelve, my parents tried to send me to regular school and give me a shot at Mundane life."

"Didn't work so well?"

"It was awful. They hated me there. And I hated them. Out there, you get made fun of for knowing too much. Granted I was still mid-puberty in my Creature phase, looking like the damn LochNess monster..."

"So what else are you keeping from me? Are you a secret agent? Work for the FBI? Are you a werewolf?" I laughed.

"No...but my boyfriend is..."

We were both silent for a minute as I stared at her, waiting for her to laugh like it was a joke. Anastasia wasn't laughing, though. She was staring me dead in the face, puffing her cheeks out like she was releasing years of pent-up pressure.

"Excuse me?"

"Thomas is a werewolf."

"No, I _heard _you, but are you out of your-"

"-not as bad you-"

"DAMN MIND?!" I cried, leaning towards her. "Stasi you could get kicked out of the Clave for that!"

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock!" she hissed, swatting at me. "What happened to being my best friend?!"

"Well I'm not gonna TELL anybody!" I shot back, kicking at her feet. "I just want you to understand how STUPID that is!"

"Hazel, listen to what you're saying. Your entire EXISTANCE is stupid, let us not forget that you are the half-angel half-demon love child of two werewolves. Excuse me for being so frank, but you're a circus act."

"You're a tool." I retorted, shooting her a look as she grinned. I rolled my eyes.

"So how did this whole thing...happen?" I asked, rocking my feet back and forth. She leaned an arm on her knee and cupped her palm in her chin.

"I was supposed to kill him," she said simply, as if it were perfectly normal. "Well, we were supposed to kill each other actually. There was this huge brawl down at Glimmer, it's this demon nightclub, and the werewolves weren't supposed to be there. There was some argument between them and the vampires and of course Jamie was in the middle of it, brewing it all up like the shit-starter he is, and bada bing bada boom you got yourself a world class beat down. I saw him, he saw me, and we immediately stopped what were doing just to stare at each other. He came to my window almost every night for a week until I opened it to talk to him."

"He came HERE? God, what an idiot. He could've gotten killed if they saw him."

"I know, isn't it so romantic?" she grinned. I rolled my eyes and got to my feet, pulling on a black, sheer lace blouse and some combat boots.

"So...have you guys...ya know...done the dirty?" I asked slyly as she breezed past me, shrugging into a leather jacket. She winked at me over her shoulder.

"Oh come on!" I cried. "I need details!"

"I mean, he wasn't my first. It was special, but not like, life changing or anything."

"When'd you lose your virginity, then?"

"I was...I think I was sixteen. Yeah, sixteen," she nodded, powdering her nose. "And what about you Missy? How old and how many?"

Heat flushed my cheeks. I didn't want her to think badly of me. Not after saying she'd wanted to be my best friend. I played with the comforter a little bit.

"I was fourteen," I murmured. She whistled, but shrugged. "I was pretty young."

"I've heard of younger." she smiled softly.

"And..."

"And how many have you slept with?"

"How many have YOU slept with?!" I demanded, turning it on her.

"Ten." she said bluntly, as if I were already supposed to know. I blinked rapidly.

"How are you so confident in that?!"

"Because I know you won't judge me," she laughed. "And I know that sex is natural. I'm not a bad person just because I get around a bit. So let's hear it, what's your number?"

"Seven."

"See? Not bad at all."

I breathed a sigh of relief, the rest of the hour containing mindless chatter and secret-swapping as Stasi and I continued on in our own little world. Church bells rang in the distance as we, along with Aaron, Lucy, and Darren, padded into the library, Jamie's parents waiting for us there.

"Jamie and Heaven are with Anastasia's parents," Clary said, smiling. "They went to re-stock the armory, they'll meet us there."

I nodded sheepishly, catching Jace watching me from the corner of my eye. My eyes met his for a moment and we stared at each other, the tension growing until Clary cleared her throat and led us to the very bottom level of the Library. The Portal, a large, round circular door covering it, hummed with activity as Jace began to align the lock with the right Runes. Groaning, the door swung open, the liquid matter behind it pulsating and swishing like electrified Jell-O.

"You'll be meeting the original families tonight," Jace said warily, putting a hand on my shoulder. "They don't know what you are yet so make sure to keep a tight lip on it. Do your best to make a good impression, alright? The entire Conclave will be there. Just relax. Pretend to be one of us."

I couldn't help but notice that he'd said pretend. As in act like you're one of us, because in reality you aren't. I nodded again, refusing to speak as Darren disappeared into the Portal, and then Clary, and then Lucy. Stasi winked at me before jumping with Aaron, leaving Jace and I in silence. He grabbed my shoulder again right before I could jump in behind them, his grip tight on my sleeve.

"Hazel," he murmured softly, coming close to me. "I know you're lost. I would be too if I were in your position," He stared at the floor and moved his hand before looking back up at me. "But understand that you're just as powerful as the rest of us. You _do_ belong here. If anything happens, anything at all, come to us. Be brave."

I watched him as he disappeared into the liquid, staring at my hand into which he'd pressed a long, thick dagger. Shoving the blade into my boot I took a deep breath, rolling my shoulders back. It was an annual gathering. A party. A celebration. I would be fine. And so I jumped.


	10. Ferris Wheel

**Soul Outside-Antonio Pinto**

**Nara-E.S. Posthmus**

**Fire Nation-Two Steps From Hell**

* * *

I landed face first in the dirt, my curls sprawling out in a massive tumbleweed above my head. I groaned as Aaron hauled me to my feet by the elbow. We'd been transported right into the middle of the forest, about a mile from the carnival. He grinned at me, slapping the dirt off the front of my jacket.

"Happened to all of us the first time we came through," he laughed. "You'll get better with practice."

"Not looking forward to it." I grumbled, rolling my shoulders back and stretching.

"Very smooth." Darren commented sarcastically, shoving against my shoulder as he passed me. I glared at the back of his head, Aaron raising an eyebrow at me.

"Not feeling very friendly today, is he?"

"When is he ever feeling friendly?"

"Don't take it personal," Aaron murmured, slinging an arm around my shoulder. "He's always been an ass."

I smiled thankfully at him as we followed behind the rest of our friends, the sky above us turning a dark navy blue as the sun set on the horizon. I heard the voices before the carnival lights even came into view, all shrieking and laughing and filling the air with joy.

"Sounds like a party." Darren breathed, staring at the wheel of bright, gleaming lights ahead of us.

"Never been on a ferris wheel before." Jace grinned, nudging his wife. She rolled her eyes at him, grasping his hand in her own.

"Married for twenty-two years and you still haven't the slightest clue of what it's like to be a Mundane."

"He's better off not knowing anyway." Darren growled, suddenly hostile. I shot him a look, Jace raising an eyebrow at him as he pushed ahead of us.

"His Father married a Mundane," Stasi said quietly, almost whispering into my ear so that only Aaron and I could hear. She kept her eyes on him, her head tilted towards us as she pulled on one of her black fingerless gloves. "Got kicked out of the Clave for it and put their entire family to shame. Darren's spent his entire life trying to prove to them that he's still good enough to be a Shadowhunter."

"Poor kid." Aaron murmured.

We followed Darren and Stasi to the gates of the carnival, the bright lights splashing numerous colors against our skin. I took a closer look at the man behind the Ticket counter, nudging Aaron to make sure I wasn't imagining things. The man, who stood a good six-foot-five, was shaved completely bald, hundreds of tattoos covering the back of his head. His broad shoulders strained against a tight black T-Shirt, a thin covering of fur running down his arms all the way to his fingers, which ended in claws. My eyes were wide.

"S'what happens when a Shadowhunter gets bitten by a werewolf and stops the transformation halfway through," Aaron whispered in my ear, grinning mischievously. "Don't get too close."

"Tickets please." The man grunted. I raised an eyebrow at Jace, who pushed past me and raised his sleeve, revealing one of the many Runes on his body. The rest of our group followed suit, leaving me there standing awkwardly.

"She's with us." Clary said softly, grabbing my hand and pulling me inside. The man stared suspiciously, and once again I was reminded of the vast difference between the Shadowhunters and I. Hazel Roberts did not belong here.

I grinned as a couple of kids rushed past me, nearly knocking Aaron over into a popcorn machine, glimmering blades bouncing along their backs.

"That young?" I asked, looking at Jace. He nodded.

"Sometimes even younger. I was nine when I started to train."

"Really? Isn't that...I mean isn't that a bit much for a kid?"

"I wasn't an ordinary kid." he grinned. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh yes, I forget, the Greatest Shadowhunter of All Time."

"It isn't me," he said quietly, slanting his eyes at me. "You'd be surprised, but it really isn't me."

"But everyone says-"

"Everyone _who hasn't seen my son, says._" he corrected, a light smile playing on his lips. I raised my eyebrows.

"Jamie?"

"You sound surprised."

"The only time I've ever seen him fight is when he tried to choke me."

"Try not to take it personally."

"Funny how that seems to be the only thing coming out of everyone's mouths lately."

"You're quite the little firecracker aren't you?" Jace mused, grinning. "But yes, people say that often here. That's because Jamie's got a very odd way of showing affection."

"If he ever does." I grumbled. Jace rolled his eyes.

"Jamie's got a gift that rivals that of even his Mother's he just doesn't know it."

"Do you?"

"Jamie's been fighting since the day he could walk, all honesty."

"Whatever. He tried to kill me."

"He was trying to push you to your absolute limits."

"Limits are only for people who have them."

Jace stopped dead in his tracks, a smile spread wide across his face as he watched me walk off with Aaron, Darren, and Stasi at my sides.

"Stop looking so sad," I scolded, nudging Darren. "We're here to have fun."

"This place bugs me out," he murmured softly, pulling me slightly to the side. "I hate it here, alright? Everyone looks at Lucy and I like we're some kind of orphans."

"But you are orpha-"

"That's beside the point!" he hissed, swatting at me. "My point is that I hate feeling like no matter what I do I'll never be good enough for these people."

"Darren...you're one of the most amazing fighters I've ever seen, and that was only watching you train. What you can do, I could only dream of."

Darren looked up at me through his thick lashes, his skin flushing with red light as we walked past a pitching booth.

"Do you really think so?"

"I know so, dude. You're an asshole but I wouldn't lie to you."

Darren laughed, rolling his eyes at me and throwing a light punch at my shoulder. We threaded through the crowd, hay crunching beneath our boots as Jace and Clary introduced me to every living family the Clave had to offer. There was the Penhallow's, the Herondale's, the Cipriano's, the Leveienth's the Carstair's, the entire Vielcaline Clan... the amount of founding families was ending.

"Look alive," Clary whispered into my ear. "The Inquisitor is coming."

My eyes immediately snapped towards the short, burly man lumbering slowly towards us, a snow-white crop of hair topping his head. I scanned the crowd evenly, trying to look as though I hadn't seen him coming.

"Clary! My dear!" the man cheered, his voice booming joyfully. He reminded me of Santa Clause. Clary turned to him and smiled broadly, wincing slightly as he clamped a large, chubby hand onto her shoulder.

"Easy, Byron," Jace swept in charmingly, shooting the man a grin. "You're going to tear my wife's arm on."

Byron laughed loudly again, his cheeks turning pink at the apples. The man had bright blue curious eyes, heavily lidded, with a beard and mustache the same color as his curly hair. He sighed happily and rolled up the sleeves of his silked black dress robe. His light eyes met my own and he raised an eyebrow, cocking his head back.

"And who might you be?" He asked curiously, leaning in to get a better look at me. "Certainly not a Blackthorne, the hair is too unruly. Although I must say you have Julian's dark eyes, God I haven't seen that boy in ages..." he trailed off. My eyes flickered to Clary desperately. "A Pangborne perhaps? A Clearwater? Oh, don't tell me you're a Lionel, when I see your Father I'll have him by his ba-"

"She's my sister," Aaron cut in quickly, shoving past Jace to stand next to me. Byron gave him a surprised look. "Just recently discovered."

"How many affairs did your Mother have?!" Byron cried out, doing a full circle around me. "I haven't seen Lorraine in ages."

"Too many to count." Aaron grumbled, kicking at the dirt. I was grateful for the timely rescue, but something was stinging at the back at my throat. It was my fault the topic had been brought up. Standing next to Aaron, I supposed we could pass as half siblings. Same dark hair, tanned skin...as long as my "Father" had been black, we could've had the same Mother. But I still didn't want him to have to bring up his parents' marital problems in public just to save my skin.

"Lorraine's not here?" Jace asked quickly, pining for a distraction.

"Oh Heaven's no, of course not," Byron huffed, shaking his head. He leaned in to Jace, who leaned in as well to appease the man. "Ever since she was caught canoodling with that Downworlder she's been afraid to show her face in public," Anastasia went stiff beside me, and I kicked her subtly with my toe. "Not that it bothers me of course!" Byron boomed, his voice so loud that Jace nearly toppled Clary over when he jumped backwards. "I'm all for the mingling and co mingling and dingling and ringing, but you know how _some _families are." He pointed a chubby finger towards the Valkov's, who stood in an isolated cluster near the carousel, looking on at the crowd disapprovingly. Jace nodded as if he understood, motioning for the rest of us to leave while we still could.

Byron grabbed me by the shoulder before I could flee, demanding that he show us to the Armory Display.

"It's a collection of some of the finest weapons Heaven and Earth have ever seen," Darren whispered into my ear. "Pretend to be interested."

And I did pretend. We walked amongst the cases of glittering blades for what felt like hours, each weapon coming with an entire novel's worth of history that Byron told with such excitement you'd assume he was a child describing Christmas. I yawned, glancing around the crowd. Where was Jamie? And where was Heaven? And why did I care? My eyes trailed along the cases lazily, stopping only when a short, glittering object caught my eyes.

"What's is_ that_?" I asked, pushing past Aaron as my insides began to hum dully. The closer I got to the case, the louder the humming grew, my muscles tingling as I pressed my hand against the glass. Byron stared down at the foot-long metal rod, taking in the intricate carvings. From one end to the other began a detailed etching of an angel, it's broad and fearsome wings spread wide across the pole as it battled with a snarling demon. Byron looked at my hand on the glass, glancing at me curiously.

"Heavenly metal," he said, obviously impressed. "One of the finest weapons in Heaven."

"But I thought _all_ of these were the finest weapons of Heaven. This one...it's different..."

"Yes, it is different," he agreed. "Enchanted."

"Let me guess, Angels only?"

"Only a specific angel!" he quipped, grinning. "Would you happen to have any idea as to which?"

I studied the carvings for a moment, my eyes catching on the flames that licked up from the Angel's sword.

"Nathaniel." Anastasia said warily, her eyes flickering to me.

"The Angel of Heavenly Fire." Byron mused, nodding.

"So what's the deal? What's the story?" I demanded, my fingers drumming impatiently. What was wrong with me?

"It was created from a mixture of adamas and Nathaniel's blood," Byron said gravely. "He paid a great price for this tool, a very great price..."

"What was it?"

"Part of his soul." Jace interjected harshly. I winced. To split your soul meant to sacrifice part of your angelic power, which brought you closer to falling than any Angel ever dared go.

"It's beautiful but it just looks like a metal rod." I sighed, pulling away from the case. Byron nodded.

"Few people have seen it in use."

"Why?"

"Because the blood of Nathaniel is forged into the blade," Clary said quietly. "Only a descendant of Heavenly Fire could activate it."

"Too bad we don't know any of those," Darren chimed in. I shot him a look. "It's one of our world's most prized weapons."

"I must say, though," Byron huffed, staring. "You look so very familiar! You couldn't have possibly had any relation to Maia Roberts?" I almost choked on my own spit.

"Who?!" I cried, shaking my head furiously. "No, never heard of her. Why? Who is she?"

"She was one of Luke's friends, was she not?" Byron asked, turning to Jace for an answer. Jace nodded.

"Yes, one of his pack. A werewolf."

"Never thought I'd see the day where we were sharing parties with them I dare say," Byron muttered, eying an elderly woman as an assortment of teenagers followed close behind her. "Though it has improved things quite dramatically."

"It doesn't bother you that they've got demon blood?" I shot out quickly, unable to stop the question. Byron frowned slightly.

"Depends on who you're asking, my little Brown Lady. I don't mind a bit, most of the new Council doesn't either, but like I said you'll always have the select few families who still believe in the oldest of traditions."

"And if you were to meet a hybrid of demonic and angelic blood?" Jace asked warily. "Hypothetically speaking, of course." Byron watched Jace steadily, suspicion covering his face.

"Would you happen to know of such a species, Johnathan?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because although I've never known such a thing to exist, you might want to be careful should you come across such a delicate creature." He blinked a few times, deep in thought before his eyes trailed back to me slowly. The Inquisitor took in a deep breath and crossed his arms across his broad chest, leaning back and lowering his eyes at me.

"We need your help, Byron. Now more than ever before." Jace said quietly, so close to the man that only a few of us could here.

"You're playing with fire Jace," Byron whispered, still watching me. "The mere temperature of her skin gives her away."

"What do we do?"

"You be careful. You be careful and you trust no one, do you understand? It's vital that you keep this as highly concealed as possible. And you," Byron turned to me, cupping my face in his hands. He shook his head slowly as he studied my face. "You are an extraordinary young woman. Don't you ever forget that. And don't you tell a soul." I nodded, my face bright red as he turned back to Jace. "Have you told Magnus Bane?"

"We've been in contact with him, yes, but he doesn't believe there's anything we can do. Her stele has been made, and-"

"My what?" I asked. Clary groaned and frowned.

"It was supposed to be a surprise," she whined. "But Jamie and his Father went and got it crafted for you, a late birthday gift if you will. He was supposed to bring it tonight, actually..."

"Speak of the Devil." Stasi said slyly, glancing at me.

Jamie waded through the crowd, the white lights making his reddish-brown hair shimmer in the night. He had a solid look on his face, a small brown package in his hands.

"Jamie! My boy!" Byron cried, nearly knocking me over and throwing his hands around Jamie's neck. Jace furrowed his brow, staring at Jamie thoroughly before whispering something into Clary's ear. Byron and Jamie chatted mindlessly as Clary gave me a weak smile. I shrugged, trying to silently tell her that I was alright.

"Happy Birthday." Jamie grumbled, shoving the package into my hands. I narrowed my eyes at him, licking my finger and pulling it through the thin paper. It tore at my touch, a small, silver box lying underneath. I handed the top of it to Aaron, who was peering over my shoulder curiously.

I gasped.

Lying inside, in a bed of white cotton, was a long, ivory stele. The body of it seemed to be carved out of cream granite, a thread of bronze and silver flames starting from the top and weaving around the stele to it's middle. I brushed my fingers over it, the stele glowing at my touch.

"It's beautiful," I whispered, pulling it out of the box. "But how the Hell do I use it?"

"Could you at least _pretend _that you're not a complete idiot?" Jamie shot acidly, Byron looking at him worriedly. I glared at him.

"Could you at least pretend you're not a complete assho-"

"Easy now," Jamie grinned. "It's not polite for a lady to swear." I was about to tell him where I was ready to politely shove my stele, but we were interrupted as a large roar filled the air, the sound of lasers filling our ears. Everyone's head snapped up to the sky at once where a large, bright blue line tore through the black night sky and pulsated like a heartbeat. The line grew larger and larger, forming a wide circle before hoards of black smoke poured out of it, people dressed in blood red emerging and leaping through the air, landing menacingly on the ground. Everyone stood in awe as we watched our attackers, the people in the crowd struck silent until finally, somewhere, a voice emerged.

"It's the Purified Ones!"

Everything happened at once. People started shrieking. Kids started crying. Jamie gripped my arm, tugging me through the crowd with his parents and our friends in tow. Byron was red in the face, every Shadowhunter available immediately forming a tight circle of security around him, weapons gleaming against the bright blue light of the Portal above.

"How the Hell did they get here?!" Jamie demanded, yanking a Seraph blade from his back, one hand still gripping me. I pulled free of him and he shot me a look.

"They're here for the armory." Xavier breathed, looking panicked. "That's the only reason they'd be here."

"Not the only reason." Jace growled, staring at me as he unsheathed a large bronze sword from his side. Clary held a dagger up at her face, poised to strike at anyone who came within arm's reach.

"Get her out of here, now!" Jamie demanded, shoving me towards Aaron as Darren disappeared into the crowd, already fighting. The Purified Ones and their demons were advancing on the crowd, hissing and snarling. I whirled on Jamie, pulling a sword from his belt.

"I'm not leaving!"

"Are you stupid?!"

"I'M NOT LEAVING YOU ALL HERE TO FIGHT!"

Jamie opened his mouth to argue but never got the chance, because the second he drew his breath, the blade of a Circassian dagger flew dangerously close to his face. I whirled, raising my blade up to meet the soldier's just as he brought it down to my throat. Aaron tore the soldier off of me, swinging his axe at another as it rounded the corner on us. There was blood everywhere, Shadowhunters exploding into action at the drop of a hat. I tackled a soldier as he advanced on Jamie from behind, Jamie whirling and staring at me in disbelief as I slid my blade across it's throat, red matter spewing against the front of my blouse.

Jamie ripped me to my feet, yanking me out of the way just as another soldier dove to where I'd been laying. He stomped on the side of the soldier's face, digging his blade into his spine and twisting until a sickening snap filled the air.

"Duck!" I did as I was told, Darren swinging his Morning Star over my head, the spikes landing into the chest of another soldier.

"Leave, now!" Jamie pleaded, turning and meeting the claws of a demon. It snarled at him, lunging for his throat, it's talons clawing at every bit of exposed skin the boy had. There was no leaving. It wasn't an option. Not while Jamie was here.

I jumped onto the demon's back, the mucus of it's skin burning my arm as I shoved my dagger through the back of it's skull. We landed in a heap on the ground as Anastasia was thrown into one of the armory cases, glass raining down around me. I scrambled to my feet, pulling her by the collar of her jacket as the demon swung at her furiously. Stasi rolled, tearing Elephant from where she'd dropped it in the hay and arcing it widely behind her, slicing at the demon's chest.

"I thought Jamie told you to leave!" Stasi yelled, her voice barely audible over the screams of the people.

"When have I ever listened to Jamie?" I countered, pulling her to her feet and disappearing into the crowd again.

We fought our way through the endless sea of people, blood and gore splattering us everywhere as we went, bodies of Shadowhunters and Purified Soldiers alike strewn about the ground.

"Take this!" Lucy cried, appearing from the thick bodies and shoving a tub of thick jelly into my arms.

"What?"

"Take it and set it off, it's witch hazel, it blinds them!" She gave no other explanation as she turned back to the demons around us. I stared absent-mindedly for a moment, watching her spin on her heel and catching a Soldier with her other in the jaw. She brought one of her blades down across the lining of his shoulders, the Soldier crying out and dropping to his knees just in time for her to spin again and cut him clean across the neck. I jumped as his head rolled towards my feet.

"Go!" she commanded, pulling a seraph blade from her belt and shoving it into mine. "Go now!"

I shoved my way through the crowd, dodging blade upon blade with a dagger in one hand and witch hazel in another. The field was too crowded. If I was going to blind the demons, I'd have to get to high enough ground where they'd all see it. I looked up against the sky, searching for the highest possible ground, my heart skipping a beat when I'd finally found it. _Ferris Wheel._


	11. Witch Hazel

**Kara Kul- Mark Petrie**

**For The Win-Two Steps From Hell**

**Becoming A Legend-John Dreamer**

**~Jamie POV~**

* * *

The Purified Soldier stared down at me from a six-five height, the space between his two front teeth widening as he grinned at me in what was supposed to be a threat. I rolled my eyes, pulling my favorite Seraph blade from one of the straps on my back, watching him carefully. I held the tube out in front of me, raising an eyebrow as I whispered the name.

"_Michael." _The blade elongated in my hands, the heavenly metal glowing. Without hesitation, I swung. The Soldier ducked quickly, jabbing at me with his spear. I kicked the rod to the side, snapping it with my other foot and pulling the soldier into a kneel before bringing my knee up and connecting it to his nose. He reeled backwards, cupping his face as I rolled Michael over my shoulder and slid it clear through the Soldier's chest, his heartbeat vibrating the sword as it struggled.

Footsteps were close behind me. I swung in a large arc, adrenaline flooding my veins as my eyes met a pair of light brown ones.

"Jesus Christ!" I shouted, the tip of my sword inches away from Hazel's petrified face.

"You almost killed me!" She shrieked. I rolled my eyes.

"As if it's MY fault you don't know how to announce your presence!" I yanked her towards me by the collar of her blouse, throwing her under my arm as I cut clean across the demon who'd tried to pounce on her from behind. It's teeth snapped at my ear as I slammed the hilt of my sword into it's jaw, rolling us over so that I straddled it. I slammed Michael into the breast bone, twisting until the demon moved no more.

"You know you really sho-HAZEL!" I threw my hands into the air at the sight of her wriggling her body through the crowd, leaving me behind. I groaned in exasperation, pushing off of my knees and running after her. I tripped her, catching her by the arm before she hit the ground and meeting the blade of another soldier, kicking him in the shin so hard that it snapped and dragging Michael across the side of his face before landing my other foot into the center of his ribcage, sending him crashing to the ground. Hazel glanced at the body before shooting me an irritated look.

"You're supposed to be gone." I growled, snatching the witch hazel from her hands and shoving it into my backpack. She snatched the bag from me, slinging it over her shoulder.

"I'm SUPPOSED to be setting this off and HELPING." she said defiantly, trying to push past me.

"Has it ever occurred to you," I hissed, throwing my arm in front of her to deflect another blade. "That you are more of a burden than a help?!" She swung her backpack at a demon, sending it flying across the field before turning to me.

"No." she shot simply, on the move again. "Maybe," she grunted, pulling out her dagger and deflecting another blade as a demon snarled to my right. I blocked his claw with a wide swing, using the other to catch him under the arm and tearing it clean off. "You," Hazel spun on her feet and slit across a Soldier's neck. "Should learn to give people a chance," I was so distracted that a Soldier had pulled the hilt of his sword across my neck, cutting off my air supply. Hazel's eyes went wide as she rolled around my body, slamming her dagger into the side of the man's throat. I spun, grabbing his weaponry arm with my right and shoving Michael through his chin. "Before judging them."

I gave the girl a look, trying not to smile at the sight of her. Clearly disheveled, her cheeks were flushed bright red, her dark curls in a messy ponytail, a few strands that escaped framing her face wildly.

"Where exactly is it that you're trying to go?"

"Up there." she pointed. I looked to the top of the Ferris wheel, my eyes growing wide as I gave her a look.

"Are you stupid?"

"How many times are you going to ask me that damn question?!" she yelled, turning and storming through the mass of demons. I followed incredulously.

"You can't HONESTLY BE MAD AT ME AFTER I JUST SAVED YOUR LIFE!"

"I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" She screamed, dodging Stasi's Elephant as it sailed through the air like a boomerang. I dipped underneath my Father's Ezekial blade, shaking my head as he shot me a look.

"Where the Hell are you going?" he demanded.

"Princess over here is trying to get herself kille-"

"I'M TRYING TO HELP!" She yelled angrily, whirling on me. Her face faltered. "Jamie, move!"

She'd been too late. Four soldiers advanced on us, one of them grabbing my throat from behind as the other took on my Father, who swung Ezekial with such grace and practice that it was no wonder he was the greatest of our kind. I kicked my feet in the air, arching my back until the Soldier and I both landed on our backs in the hay, straw flying up all around us. Mom brought her dagger down into the Soldier's throat, stomping on his jaw as if to prove a point. I gave her a look and she put her hands on her hips.

"What?" she demanded. "Your Father taught me a few things!" My Dad glanced at us momentarily, grinning at her. My stomach turned over, the Rune on my chest searing. I looked to Hazel, who was being swung at too quickly for her to keep up with. Immediately, I kicked out my foot and tripped her. She landed on her back next to me as I ripped Michael from the straw, bringing it up just in time to keep a Soldier's axe from landing square in my face. Hazel stabbed him in the hand with her small dagger and he quickly released his hold, just in time for his friend to jab a sword straight into the ground. I rolled over Hazel, pulling her along with me as we turned in the hay, dodging stab after stab until finally Hazel quit rolling and straddled me, yanking one of Lucy's fallen Sai blades from the ground and stabbing it straight into the Soldier's bladder. He doubled over, crying out in pain, his cheeks going pale as he hit the ground.

"I think I've seen this in a dream once." I commented, looking at her poised body above mine. She hit me in the face with the book bag, throwing handfuls of hay at me as she rose to her feet, running through the crowd again. I snatched Michael from the ground, taking off after her.

Without hesitation, Hazel clung to the bottom rungs of the Ferris wheel, soldiers streaming behind us as she climbed higher and higher above me. I turned, swinging in a wide arc at the demons scrambling up the metal behind us. A soldier swung through the bars in front of me, and I dodged his feet by an inch, digging into his ankle with my elbow and yanking him downwards. I quickly switched hands on the rung and turned, using my other elbow to catch him in the chin. Holding onto his pants, I dropped down, releasing my hold on the metal and yanking him down with me. I shoved Michael into a rung near the bottom, the metal hitching and stopping my fall. The Soldier wasn't so lucky.

"Hazel?" I called, staring down. We'd made it at least thirty feet up by now, the demons crawling up the bars like insects. She turned, her eyes growing wide as she saw what was behind us. "Why do you look so worried?" I teased, raising an eyebrow. "I just wanted to tell you your ass looks fantastic."

She shot me a look before continuing her climb, digging into her pants pocket for a box of matches. Hazel straddled the top of the Ferris wheel, me only a few rungs below her as she struggled to light one of the small wooden sticks. She ripped open the bag and set the witch hazel in front of her. Her face was a mixture of frustration and fear as she kept trying, the wood refusing to give at her touch. Hazel's eyes grew wet, and that's when I saw it. It was the same look that had been on my face for years, only appearing when I was alone, staring into the mirror. It was desperation, etched across her features so plainly that anyone could see there was nothing more that she wanted in that moment than to be useful, to save someone, _to do something right._

"Jamie it's not-" she screamed, her sentence interrupted as a Ravenor demon snatched at her ankle, tearing her down from the bars.

"HAZEL!" My heart was hammering at a million miles an hour, the Rune on my chest beginning to burn again as I watched her. Hazel's back hit the top of the Ferris Wheel, her body rolling across the metal as she clawed for some sort of grip before falling into a dangle. We were nearly six stories high. If she fell now, she'd be gone. I swung my sword at the advancing Soldiers and their demons, slicing through body after body as I tried to reach her. She kicked furiously, snapping the jaw of the demon underneath her as her fingers tipped over the box of matches, causing them to spill all over her. Their descent to the ground was too long for my liking, and I watched as she pulled herself upwards, grunting painfully in an attempt to hold up her own weight and the demon's. Shakily, she reached a match, dragging it across the metal. Nothing happened. She cried out as the demon sank it's teeth into the skin above her ankle. The match slipped from her fingertips as the demon bit down harder and she screamed, nearly slipping from the bars.

Hazel looked at me, tears brimming her eyes as she bit her lip, the demons growing heavier and heavier around me. I wasn't tired. Not yet. I'd never be tired if that's what it took to save her. A new fury brewed inside of me as I roared, arcing the sword in every direction possible, cries of pain echoing throughout the night. Hazel, with a new look of determination on her face, bit down on her bottom lip and gritted her teeth, her muscles straining against her skin as she pulled herself up once more.

But she wasn't reaching for a match. Instead, she pulled herself just high enough to rest her left arm on the top of the Ferris wheel. She rose her right hand, her entire arm shaking as she thrust her fist into the witch hazel. I paused in my battle, a demon gripping the bottom of my foot in the moment of my distraction. I couldn't be sure of what I was seeing.

Hazel's eyes seemed to flash a brilliant gold before her hand, shoved into the jelly, began to glow. Her cheeks, usually flushed with red, were pulsating with a golden, shining light. The demon below her hissed, his skin sizzling at the touch of her skin. It released her ankle immediately and Hazel pulled her top half over the metal as the witch hazel began to sizzle in the jar. The metal of the Ferris wheel began to hum violently, Hazel's hand growing brighter until finally, her skin exploded into flames.


	12. The Daughter of Heavenly Fire

**Destiny of The Chosen- Immediate Music**

**World Without End- Brand X Music**

**Archangel- Two Steps From Hell**

* * *

I opened my eyes. The air was ringing around me, and the ground was covered in demons, all of them clawing at their ears, screaming out in pain as the witch hazel burned through their systems. There was only one face I was looking for and when I found it, my breath caught. Hazel was flat on her stomach three feet away from me, curled up on her side. She lifted her dirt-smudged face slowly, her eyes the same light brown color I was used to. What had just happened?

Her eyes caught mine and immediately grew wet, and my heart sank. I started crawling towards her immediately, Shadowhunters and Purified Soldiers still battling across the carnival field. I threw my hand down over hers and dragged her closer to me as she scrambled to her knees before her eyes looked over my shoulder and grew wide.

A huge pair of hands clamped down over my shoulders, dragging me away from her.

"No!" I grunted, gripping Hazel's arm as a Soldier snatched her up from behind. Hazel ducked her head as I kicked at the Soldier's jaw, the one holding me clamping his hand down over my mouth as if it would make me any less furious and ready to fight. Another Soldier came to aid, grabbing my feet and slinging me against the ground, shoving his fist across my face a few good times until I tasted blood.

"Jamie! Jamie!" Hazel was being dragged away from me, two of the Soldiers raising me to my feet. The Shadowhunters and Soldiers had quit fighting, each of the Purified Ones backing up slowly towards the center of the Carnival to form a ring around Hazel, a few other captured Shadowhunters and I.

My Father's eyes grew wide as he saw me, struggling against the hold of two Purified Soldiers as they gripped his shoulders tightly. He stared at me from my right, his eyes wide although we were only a good foot apart.

"Clary!" he called, trying to look over his shoulder. Mom shoved her way through the crowd, a Soldier drawing his blade and pointing it directly at her face when she stood a few feet away from my Father. It was a warning not to come any closer, and she was smart enough to oblige. "He's alive!" Dad called. I wasn't sure what he'd been talking about until Mom's eyes scanned the crowd desperately, glittering when they landed on me.

"Jamie?" she breathed, trying to push past the soldier. He grabbed her roughly, one arm around her chest with his blade pointed directly at her face as my Father struggled, fury brewing across his features. What did he mean I was alive? Of course I was alive.

"What happened?" I asked, looking up at him. He knitted his eyebrows together, his eyes continuously flickering to my Mom as if he couldn't fully concentrate until she was safe.

"You fell from the top of a Ferris Wheel, Jameson," he grunted, straining again. "Hazel and you should both be dead by now. She set the witch hazel off on top of the wheel, did she not?"

"Her skin..." I breathed, trying to get closer to him. "Dad it, it burst into-"

"Quiet!" he hissed, glancing at the Soldiers.

I scanned the crowd for Hazel, wincing when I saw her across the circle the Purified Ones had made. She stood only fifty feet away from me, if I could get free, she was only a sprint away. I could make it. I could get to her. I could save her. She shot me a worried glance, biting her lower lip as the Soldier with his arms around her pressed the blade of a dagger against her throat. And inhuman fury was rising in the pit of my stomach. Everything she was making me feel, made me want to throw up. I wanted to pass out. I wanted to cry. I wanted to save her. I wanted to touch her, and kiss her, and protect her, and it was making me ill because I hated her. The Rune on my chest burned like lava against the skin the more I thought about her.

"Well," A voice boomed through the crowd. It echoed off of the air as if it were made of metal, being transmitted through a loud speaker. "What do we have here?"

Every living creature in the Carnival looked as a tall, sickly skinny figure clothed in a Crimson robe moved to the center of the field. The man pulled his hood back, revealing a pale, thin face with wide lips and a long, sharp nose. His skin was a cluster of wrinkles, his eyes glowing a dull gold, as if there were a dying fire behind his iris'. His voice rang out in a thick, raspy echo. The second his face was revealed, my Dad stiffened next to me. Whoever this man was, he'd seen him before.

"Dominus Creto," A Soldier stepped forward almost meekly, his eyes low as he pushed Hazel into his line of view. At this point all I'd have to do was walk a few steps to grab her. My hand flexed at my side, my Father nudging me and giving me a look as if to say _not yet._

Hazel looked on bravely as Creto turned to her, one eyebrow raised. A sick grin spread over his face, a filmy, dark smile hiding behind his lips as he circled her.

"In all my years," he mused, his voice uneven. "So the rumors are true."

"What rumors?" Dad demanded boldly, I took this as a chance to move. I bolted forwards, and the Soldier had his arms around my shoulders in seconds, kicking my calf from behind and dropping me to my knees.

"Jace Lightwood!" Creto exclaimed, grinning again as he walked towards us, careful to stay out of arm's reach. "And...son..I'm presuming?" he asked, glancing at me lazily. Dad clenched his jaw.

"What rumors?" he demanded again.

"A little birdy told me that you've all been hiding her," Creto smiled. He looked like a parent scolding a child. "And we all know that isn't very nice."

"We don't know what you're talking about."

"So it's true?"

"She isn't the one you've been looking for."

"Don't LIE to me," Creto hissed, suddenly furious as he shoved his face into my Father's. Dad winced and recoiled. "You know exactly who she is. You know exactly what she's DONE," he emphasized every word. "She. Is. A. Traitor!"

"She's a child!"

"SHE'S AN ABOMINATION."

Hazel clenched her jaw behind him, still being held by the Soldier as she watched Creto in all of his sickening glory. Her eyes met mine and I raised my eyebrows slightly. 'Are you okay?' I mouthed subtly. Hazel nodded gently, her eyes flickering to the ground at my Mother's feet. I followed her gaze, my eyes catching the Rod of Nathaniel in the hay, the small glittering pole hidden from obvious sight. My eyes went wide. If Hazel went to it now, it could kill her. Only one person had ever been able to use it, and they were born of complete Heavenly Fire. We didn't know what Hazel was. We didn't know her bloodline as thoroughly as we needed to. She could die. She could kill us all. I could come up with a million reasons why her touching that sword was not okay.

But I knew in the bottom of my heart that even if I told her, she'd never listen.

"You," Creto growled, turning on her. Hazel stared at him evenly. She was so brave. "You demon infected _parasite-_" There were shocked murmurs from the crowd of Shadowhunter families around us. They were stunned. Demons were no longer hated, but still looked down upon in many families, and to have one in the presence of so many Nephilim wasn't a good idea. They all watched Hazel, their brows furrowed. They hadn't sensed any demonic presence. She had no Downworlder marking. I watched as a single question seemed to form in the minds of over a dozen different families. _What is she?_

"She isn't a full demon!" I blurted out, my Dad shooting me a look. Creto paused in his movements, sending a poisonous look in my direction before dragging his eyes back to her.

"Oh we know," he said, his voice suddenly soft as he advanced on her. "We know all about the mutt that she is." He trailed a few fingers across her face, and being Hazel, she spat at him. The back of his hand came down hard across her face, so forcefully she fell from the Soldiers grip and into the hay. I lunged forward, my Dad catching my arm this time and restraining me along with the soldiers.

"What are you doing?!" I cried, looking back at him. He pulled my ear to his mouth.

"Not yet." he hissed, before throwing me back to my knees, the Soldiers yanking him backwards. I gritted my teeth, watching as a Soldier straddled Hazel's back, his weight causing her to cough as she struggled for air.

"SHE'S NEPHILIM!" Aaron shouted, the blade of a najil pressed tightly to his chest in the background.

"Good," Creto boomed, although you could tell he didn't believe him. "Then this shouldn't hurt a bit."

The Soldier pulled out a black stele, the tip of it glowing as he pressed it against Hazel's skin. Her shoulder blade sizzled upon contact, and the second it touched her she screamed, kicking her feet and straining underneath the large man. Every muscle in my body tightened, my breath coming out quick and shallow as I watched him burn a Rune into her shoulder. She screeched, louder and louder, and we could hear her skin sizzling from where we stood. I couldn't take it anymore. The Rune he was drawing was turning black, her body was rejecting it, it was killing her. Hazel Roberts was in fact a Downworlder, or at least had enough werewolf blood in her body that she could not bear the brunt of a Rune. I knitted my eyebrows together. How had she burned my Rune onto the crook of her elbow, then?

I couldn't take it anymore. Hazel was biting down on her lip so she wouldn't cry, her arms pinned behind her back as she laid there and took the Rune as if she were meant to carry it. That was enough. I roared, ripping a dagger from my Father's boot and slamming it into the Soldier's shin behind me. He wailed, sinking to his knees just in time for me to whirl around and stab the dagger straight into his Adam's apple. I jumped up quickly, slicing the blade up the arm of my Father's attacker. Dad pulled out two Seraph blades, whispering Ezekial's name before tossing me Joseph.

I growled the name, running towards Hazel and tackling the Soldier off of her. She sucked in a large breathe, rolling over onto her back and wincing as her shoulder pressed against the hay. I slammed Joseph into the Soldier's breast bone, staring him dead in the eye and twisting until it cracked. I wouldn't kill him. I'd wound him so brutally he couldn't stand and let him bleed in the hay.

I swung Joseph up in an arc at the Soldier advancing to my right and sliced a clear line across his chest, slamming my foot into his ribs so hard he toppled over, taking two other soldiers with him. I turned, ready to yank Hazel to her feet, but she was gone. She was crawling across the hay, straw clinging to her clothes and hair as she moved numbly through the legs of fighting people.

"Hazel!" I screamed her name but she didn't turn. I made a quick move in an attempt to get into her line of sight, but a Soldier grabbed me by the shoulder and brought his blade down my spine, a stinging pain following suit. I dug my elbow into his chest and kicked back into his shin, snapping it and dragging my elbow across his jaw as he sank to his knees.

Hazel was hypnotized. Her eyes empty and dull, she crawled through the hay before reaching out for something and pausing. She picked something up, standing slowly to her feet as if there wasn't a battle going on all around us.

"Hazel!" I screamed again. She turned to me this time, her face blank as she gripped tightly to the one thing I prayed she would never touch.

The second her fingers closed around the metal, it began to glow. Hazel's eyes flashed a brilliant gold, color boiling in her iris' as the metal gleamed between her fingertips. Creto stared on from the ground, his own eyes wide as the angel carved into the rod began to move it's wings, it's fiery sword falling down upon the demon it battled. Everyone was mesmerized. The rod shot out a brilliant light, growing, stretching until the rod was not five inches, but five and a half feet long. The expanding metal turned a brilliant bronze color, bleeding through the silver as though it were paint. At the fourth foot, a gleaming, silver blade sprouted, reflecting the light so brilliantly it looked like fire.

Hazel stared on at my Father and I, who were both paralyzed along with the rest of the crowd. Hazel's expression changed, one from innocence and confusion to stone. She did not look like the same, fearful girl I'd seen seconds ago. A Purified Soldier to her right was the first to move. And so he was the first to die.

Hazel twirled the rode in her hands as if it had a mind of it's own before slicing it clean through the man's chest. He grunted, dropping to his knees when Hazel had already moved on to her second attacker. She threw the rod up as a distraction, the metal shrinking the second it left her hands, and brought her palm up to another Soldier's nose, snapping it. She dug her elbow into his jaw, her back to him as she caught the rod again, which grew once more, and shoved it into his stomach. Hazel was slicing and cutting and stabbing and twirling like she'd been at the Institute for years instead of days, and after minutes of standing there in awe, every Shadowhunter seemed to be so inspired by her movements that they finally sprang into action.

It was a blood bath, Creto whining on the ground until one of his Soldiers hauled him up by the arms. They were retreating, less and less of them filling the field as they fled back from where they'd come, more and more disappearing by the second. Hazel yanked her blade from the spine of a fallen soldier as Creto paused by the Portal entrance, staring at all of us with a hint of demonic glee playing at his eyes.

"And so the daughter of Heavenly Fire rises," he rasped, staring at her. "You will lose," he said gently, almost pityingly. "And you will die."

He disappeared into the Portal, the slit in the sky seeming to zip itself up behind him, and then the air was still.

"What the HELL was that?" Lucy demanded, staring at Hazel almost accusingly. Hazel lifted her eyes, dropping the rod. It shriveled up back into it's foot-long silver state, Hazel's eyes fading back into a dull light brown, green flecks speckling the iris. She sucked in a deep breath, the torn blouse on her shoulder slipping down her arm.

"Hazel?" I asked gently. She looked like she was going to be sick.

"Oh my God." Mom whispered, staring at Hazel's back. The girl turned, her shoulder facing me as my eyes widened. There, where the Soldier had marked her, was a butchered attempt at an Alliance Rune. Creto had tried to enslave her. The Rune had burned through her skin, turning a charred burgundy color, the edges of it smudged and speckled with blood. Black lines leaked through the surrounding veins like poison.

"Hazel!"

She hit the ground before I could get to her.

* * *

**So what do you all think so far? I'd love to hear from you!**

**I'd also like to warn you that the chapters, although keeping their humorous tone, will start to get a little darker. That means people will die, hearts are going to get broken, and there will most definitely be a lot of devestating secrets revealed. So if you're not up for it, I suggest you stop now.**

**Read & Review please! ;)**


	13. Sick

**S/O to Magical Unicorn for the super cute review and letting me know about that little slip in the past chapter so I could fix it!**

**Keep reading and reviewing! ;)**

* * *

"Oh, hey," Darren murmured at the sight of me. I nearly jumped, shoving the shoe box I'd been carrying behind my back. Darren knit his eyebrows. "What's that?"

"Nothing," I blurted out a little too quickly, trying to move around him. "I was actually just on my way to go see-"

"Hazel," he finished, smirking. I shot him a look. "Everyone's on their way down there, smart ass. Magnus just arrived."

"Oh, great!" I chirped, already well aware. He was the one who'd given me the box. Darren crossed his arms and I sighed. "I...uhm..." Darren held his hand out and I rolled my eyes, handing the box gently over. "Be careful." I grumbled as he peeked under the lid.

"Jamie," he said flatly. "Are you serious?"

"What?!"

"You got her a cat?!"

"I thought she'd like it!" I cried, snatching the box back and peering down at the small black kitten inside. It mewed fearfully, clinging to one corner of the small shoe box. "You scared him."

"Awwe, how cute," Heaven teased, brushing past me with a grin. "Have you named it yet?"

"No!" I shot, glaring. "I just wanted to make her feel better."

"Funny," Aaron commented, jogging up to us as we walked towards the Infirmary. "Cause I recall a certain someone saying he hated Hazel Roberts."

"A certain someone will shove this shoe box up your ass if you don't cut it out." I grumbled. "Kitten included."

Heaven laughed next to me, braiding her hair as we walked.

Chimes started ringing above us, and soon the corridors were filled with students moving on to their next class. I closed the lid on the shoebox, hoping it would stifle the noise and calm the kitten down. A few of our fellow Shadowhunter's shot us dirty looks as they shoved past us.

"Have you talked to her yet?" I asked Aaron quietly, trying not to be too overheard. He shook his head.

"She just woke up this morning," Heaven cut in, pushing Xavier and glaring at him as he tried to breeze past us. I raised my eyebrows. "Look, I know I'm not the most outspoken person on this planet, but it's not Hazel's fault what she is."

"It's her fault those freaks showed up at the Carnival last week." Darren grumbled. Aaron stuck his foot out to trip him.

"It's also her fault they left," I defended. "If she hadn't fought like she did we would've been toast."

"What the Hell was up with that anyway? I've never seen her move like that in battle." Aaron commented.

"Must've been that magical dildo she picked up."

"That was NOT a dildo!" Heaven cried, clearly appalled by the innuendo as her pale cheeks burned red. She was so innocent. "That was the Rod. Of. Heavenly. Fire." she finished, smacking him in between each word. Darren swatted at her.

"Whatever it was, it was creepy. Awesome, but creepy." Aaron laughed. I nodded in agreement.

"At least we know she's partial Nephilim," Heaven shrugged. "Better than nothing."

We turned the corner and pushed through the wide iron doors of the Infirmary, cold air flushing our faces as we entered. A girl's laughter filled the room, and I walked in on Magnus and Hazel giggling and chattering together like old friends.

Hazel looked up at me, my stomach dropping the second her eyes met mine. She was curled up in her hospital bed, her knees drawn to her chest as she leaned her back against the headboard, soft, messy curls falling around her arms and shoulders. Her hazel eyes looked tired and heavy, as though she were carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. My parents sat next to each other on the hospital bed to Hazel's left, Simon leaning against the end of hers. Isabelle and Anastasia were on the other side of the room with Ms. Etta, mixing and grabbing different potions and whispering quietly to themselves.

"Hey!" Aaron chirped happily, planting a kiss on Hazel's forehead.

"Hey." she smiled softly, leaning against me as I sat next to her.

The gesture sent a shock through my body and I immediately jumped up, confused by the intimacy of it. She shot me a confused and somewhat wounded look, quickly wiping it from her face and scratching at her hair.

"Been a long morning." she commented idly.

"Yeah," I breathed, Magnus nudging me slightly. "Yeah I guess it has been."

"They said I was out for at least a week," she laughed. "Why didn't anybody wake me up?"

"Oh believe me we tried," Darren shot, grinning. "You sleep like a fucking grizzly bear."

She threw a pillow at him as I set the box on the bed, my parents knitting their eyebrows together in unison. Hazel raised an eyebrow, reaching for the box.

"What's in it?" she pouted as I pulled it out of her reach. I bit down on my lip as a small meow came from one of the holes I'd poked in the top. Hazel's mouth fell open, a smile playing at the corners of her lips.

Before I lost my cool I pulled the top of the box open and scooped out the small kitten, dropping it into Hazel's lap and clenching my jaw.

"I know it's lame and everything but I just thought it was cool. Not thought it was cool but like a cute thing. Not cute, just you know, I mean, like I thought you'd-"

"Jamie," Hazel said softly, scooping up the small kitten and pressing it's face to her nose. "You got me a cat?"

"You said you liked them," I shrugged, putting the lid back on the box and tossing it aside. "So I thought it would make you feel better."

The room was quiet and I had to try extra hard not to laugh at my parents faces.

"You can pick your jaws up off the floor now," I said lazily, smirking at them. "It's not nice to drool all over."

"How come you never got ME a cat?!" Dad cried sarcastically. I rolled my eyes, thankful for the tension breaker as we all laughed.

"So how bad is it?" Lucy asked, pushing her silky hair out of her face. "What's going on."

"The majority of her blood is that of a downworlder," Magnus sighed quietly, watching Hazel as she stroked the kitten lovingly. "Otherwise she'd be able to take the Rune. Unfortunately her body is treating it as a toxin."

"What does that mean?" Aaron asked, poking a finger at the kitty.

"It means it burns like shit." Hazel grumbled almost silently. I tried not to laugh.

"It means that a regular Downworlder would've dropped dead the second that guy started drawing," Darren shot cynically. "But because Hazel's also part Nephilim, it's gonna kill her slowly."

"We're trying to thing positively here." Mom hissed defensively, putting a hand on Hazel's shoulder.

"We know she's trying!" Darren argued. "But we can't fill her with false hope! It's time to be realistic about this. A child of Heavenly Fire doesn't belong on Earth to begin with, being part demon only makes it worse."

"Well where does she belong then?!" I shot, my voice echoing off the walls. Everyone grew silent, my Dad sighing behind me.

"The Children of Heavenly Fire were said to be blessed, Jamie. Even so the other children were blessed with fire put upon their skin by the angel himself no one has ever been BORN with his blood in their system, it's unheard of."

"She'll be fine."

"Jamie, she-"

"Look at her!"

"Jamie!"

"Just look at her, she's fine, she's-"

"I'm dying."

My eyes flickered upwards, Hazel staring straight at me. She bit the inside of her cheek, clutching the kitten to her chest as she watched me.

"What?" I started shaking my head, unable to pull my eyes away from hers as she leaned her head to the side sympathetically.

"Jamie-"

"No," I grumbled, frowning and crossing my arms. "No."

"Jamie there's nothing they can-"

"Stop it," I demanded, standing from my seat and staring at all of them. "There has to be something."

"Even if we tried you would lose somebody." Magnus said softly, looking up at me with pity. I grimaced at the notion of me needing someone's sympathy.

"What is it?" Heaven asked, her voice edged like a blade. In that moment, I could kiss her. Even if I knew she was gay, it meant more to me than anything that she was on my side. That's what a true partner was.

"We summoned Uriel. The Angel of wisdom."

"And?" I asked, staring at my Mother.

"The Rune that Creto created is something I've never seen before," she started. "It was a binding Rune, but there was something demonically possessive about it."

"Creto knew exactly what he was doing," Magnus cut in. "The Rune can only be removed by the blood of another Nephilim."

"Okay, so we give her the blood of another Nephilim," I said quickly, pulling a blade from my pocket. Aaron grabbed my arm before I could slice across my palm.

"You don't understand," Magnus said firmly. "A transfusion of sorts has to take place. She'd not only have to drink your blood, but you'd have to die in order for your blood to bind with hers. The Rune requires a sacrifice."

The room was quiet again. Hazel was still playing with the cat, but keeping her eyes on me. Heaven bit down on her lip, tearing up slightly as Lucy put an arm around her. So she was dying. Hazel had been here for a month, and she was dying.

"How is this fair?" I blurted out, my thoughts escaping my mouth. "How can you be okay with this?"

"I'm not okay with this," Hazel said softly. "Not really. But if I'm gone...what else will they have against you?"

My jaw hit the floor.

"What?!"

"Jamie the only reason they attacked you was because of me, the only reason they even showed up last week was because of me. If I'm gone and out of the way what else can they do to you? They'll leave all of you alone."

"You've gotta be kidding."

She didn't answer. So that was that. A sacrifice was needed. I glanced at the blade in my hand, measuring the distance between it and my chest.

"Don't even think about it." She said icily, her expression quickly turning to stone. As if it were a command, I dropped the blade immediately. "What the Hell is the matter with you?"

"If you need blood I can give you blood, I can-"

"Jamie there's nothing you can do."

"But I need...you need to live you're only-"

"It's not your job to save the entire world!" She cried. That's what she thought this was? She thought I'd do this for ANYBODY who needed it? No. No, she needed to understand, she needed to read my thoughts because I couldn't bring myself to tell her that she was the only one in the universe I'd ever do this so quickly for. Never in my life had I been so ready to die for someone, and I had no idea why.

"What's going on with you?" Heaven asked, peering at me. She could feel that something was wrong, and even though there were a thousand excuses running through my head, I couldn't find one that seemed to fit.

"How long do we have?" I asked, my eyes dragging back to Magnus.

"Who knows," he murmured. "Maybe you should show him." He was looking at Hazel, who bit down on her lip before sliding to the side of the bed and turning around, allowing Magnus to pull back the shoulder of her gown.

The scar on her shoulder had only gotten worse. It seemed to be darkening, deepning, cutting into the skin at a dangerous depth. All around it was bruised, purple skin, black poisonous lines scrawling out in every direction. The Rune itself was smudged, it's edges blurry and red traced into her skin, like the ink had bled into her veins. I recoiled immediately, backing away as quickly as I could.

"Jamie?" Hazel asked, looking over her shoulder. I shook my head, turning on my heels and heading out the door. I couldn't do it. I couldn't handle any of this.

Climbing the stairs of the Astronomy tower, my thoughts were racing. I could save her. I could save her somehow. Maybe no one had to die. Maybe someone did. I didn't know. I didn't care. I could kill myself, just get it over with, but how could I be sure she'd take my blood? Knowing Hazel, she'd have a fit of pride and refuse to drink it in some sort of self-righteous martyrdom. I swore, pushing open the heavy wooden double doors of my bedroom. My boots thudded against the stone floor before I grabbed a piece of thick white paper and cut it to the desired size, throwing it up like a canvas on the wall. I grabbed one of the hundreds of paintbrushes on my desk and started in on the paint.

I wasn't even sure what I was making. It happened like this almost every day. I'd get overwhelmed with God-knows-what kind of feeling and I'd take it out on a piece of paper, and nine times out of ten it would come out beautiful. I'd show Mom or Isabelle and they'd throw it up on the wall somewhere in the Institute for all the world to see.

But this wasn't beautiful.

It was horrendous.

It made me sick, just like all the other drawings and paintings I'd been creating fort the past two weeks. It was all her fault. It was Hazel who'd been making me ill. I stepped away from the paper, gazing up at the light brown eyes I'd learned to perfect with a pencil and almost threw up. She was staring back at me, her small perfect mouth set into a permanent smirk in every drawing I'd created of her. I wanted to hit her. I wanted to kill her. I wanted to kill myself. The Rune on my chest seared and I clenched my teeth, stifling a scream as I sank to my knees and clutched at my stomach.

"I told you not to do it."

"Shove it, Magnus," I hissed, looking over my shoulder at him. "It will work. Give it time."

"I'm telling you to remove it Jamie, not asking. It's making you sick."

"_She's _making me sick."

"She's a seventeen year old girl with a pretty face. They make us all sick. Well, not me, but you know what I mean."

"Are you always this annoying or have I just been extra tolerant lately?" I grumbled, standing and still holding onto my chest. Magnus rolled his eyes and pulled my shirt down slightly, the Rune in full view.

"You know they say the Dispassionate Rune is one of the most dangerous to draw." he murmured.

"You seem to be handling it just fine."

"That's because I've truly been heartbroken, Jamie," he shot icily. "You haven't. Not yet. You know what it's like to fear a shattered heart but not what it is to experience it. Once you really know how it feels to have your soul ripped out, every other pain in existence becomes bearable compared to it."

I bit down on my lip and ran my hand through my hair.

"I'm sorry." I muttered quietly. It wasn't a phrase I used to easily. Magnus shrugged lightly.

"It's alright. Even if you weren't sorry, I wouldn't care."

"You really can't feel anything?"

"No. It's like being in a dream. A numb, hazy little dream. I can worry, sometimes if the situation is dire enough. Often times I'm happy. But nothing else. There's nothing else to feel."

"I feel everything. Even with this thing on me, Magnus. I feel it all."

"You've always been an emotional train wreck, what else is new?"

I rolled my eyes, reaching for my Seraph blades and sliding them over my back into their sheaths. Magnus gave me a look.

"Didn't we agree that you'd stop going on solo missions?"

"Didn't we agree that you're not my Father?"

"Right, because he would approve so much more than I do..." Magnus muttered sarcastically. I grinned, opening the top window and peering out onto the roof. From here you could see miles around. Being at the top of the Astronomy Tower had it's perks.

"Cover for me while I'm gone?" I asked sweetly, slinging one leg out over the window sill and looking over my shoulder. Magnus crossed his arms.

"Don't I always?"

I slid out of the window and into the night, almost positive that before my feet hit the rooftop I heard Magnus mutter something along the lines of: "You're lucky you're as cute as your uncle."


	14. Bed Time

**~Hazel POV~**

* * *

My eyes snapped open at the sound of rustling near my window. I shifted in my thick cotton sheets, grateful that Ms. Etta had finally let me go back to my own familiar room. More rustling filled the air. I squinted at the ceiling, my eyes focusing on the painted angels above as I stretched. I dismissed the noise. It was probably Yoda, the little black kitten Jamie had gotten me, which had taken to gnawing on everything in sight. _Jamie. _His name echoed through the back of my mind and burned almost as badly as the Rune on my back. He'd taken it so hard. He'd looked so angry. And I was so confused. How could someone who hated me so much be sad to see me go?

But Jamie didn't hate me. In all honesty, I knew he didn't. Otherwise he wouldn't have gotten me a cat. It was such a random act of generosity, so odd and dead-on that I had no other option but to feel bewildered by it. If this was his attempt at a friendship because he felt bad about what had happened at the Carnival, I'd take it.

My body snapped to full alert as more rustling came from my window, the slight frame sliding upwards quietly. Someone was sneaking in. I slid out of bed quickly, my feet silent against the carpet as I snatched the weapon of Heavenly Fire from underneath the bed and ran to the corner near the window. _Infernalis Puritatem, _ that's what Magnus had called the rod. It was Latin for "inferno of purity" but after learning that it could set things on fire (I'd destroyed several sets of hospital bed sheets while Simon and I played with it) I'd taken to calling it Ember.

I pressed my back flat against the wall, Ember glowing dully in my hand as it expanded into a six foot tall blade. Cold air brushed through the room as the window slid all the way open, a heavy thud erupting through the room as a body slid to the floor. I sucked in a deep breathe before twirling the rod in my hands and whipping around the corner, the blade pointed directly into the face of...

"Jamie?!" I screamed, halting the blade just inches away from his throat. Jamie's eyes were wide, Ember's blade casting a golden glow across his skin.

"Are you trying to kill me?!" he yelled, swatting he blade away from his body. "You're insane! Shut up before you wake everyone!"

"What the Hell are you doing?!" I demanded, tossing Ember onto the bed and moving to switch on the lamp. "I was seconds away from slicing you in ha-" I trailed off, my eyes widening at the sight of him. Jamie was beat up. Like, really beat up.

A thin trail of blood dripped along his jaw, a bruise forming over his eyebrow. Three deep gashes tore through his fighting gear, his entire chest matted with blood as he clutched one hand to his stomach.

"What the Hell happened to you?" I whispered, running over to him and leading him to a fluffy arm chair in the corner.

"You should see the other guy." he wheezed, groaning as he sank into the leather. I pulled the weapons off of his back, tossing them to the floor carelessly.

"I'll go get Ms. Etta."

"No!" Jamie shouted, sitting up and wincing. "You can't tell her. Don't wake anyone up. No one even knows I'm gone."

"What time is it?"

"Almost three."

"Jesus.."

"He had nothing to do with this, trust me." He grunted, leaning back once again. I walked quickly into the bathroom, pulling a soap dish out of the medicine cabinet and filling it with hot water before returning with a towel in hand. I sat on my knees, pulling his shoes off. Jamie knit his eyebrows together, watching me.

"What happened to you?" I asked again.

"Damsel in distress."

"Did you get her number before or after you got your ass whooped?" I snapped, suddenly annoyed. Who was he to sneak into MY bedroom after parading around some other girl all night?

"No, considering she was five years old." He smirked. I looked down in embarrassment. "A demon followed her and her Mom from daycare. I got involved."

"At three in the morning?"

"No, not really. They got home at around eight o'clock. I got jumped for over five hours."

"I'm serious, Jamie."

"So am I," he replied, suddenly sober. "I thought it was just one of them, and when it ran I followed it in hopes of finding a nest or something."

"What'd you find?"

"Purified Ones."

I froze for a moment, clenching my jaw before sitting higher on my knees to help him pull his shirt over his head.

"That was stupid." I grumbled, tugging on the hem as he lifted his arms.

"I was trying to help."

"You're going to get yourself killed."

"It'll happen sooner or later and they deserved it after what they did to you."

"You killed them?"

"As many as I could. Granted there are probably hundreds more."

"You could've died."

"Shadowhunters die and go missing all of the time."

"I understand that that's your life motto, but maybe you should get it tattooed on your forehead instead of repeating it every chance you get."

"Well it's true," He said softly, sucking in air through his teeth as I pulled his shirt over his chest. The skin was wet and sticky, and I winced at the sight of it. "Isn't it?"

We were face-to-face, and the closeness of him caught me off guard. For a moment, I was unable to speak, trapped by his features. His golden eyes held me still for what felt like days.

"You're not wearing any makeup." he murmured, knitting his eyebrows together as if he were surprised.

"It's three in the morning."

"I know, it's just.. I like it. I mean I like it better this way." We sat there for another few moments before a faint light began to glow from his chest, and he winced, groaning loudly and sinking back into the chair.

"What's that?" I asked, skimming my fingers over what looked like a pathetic attempt at a Rune. Jamie shook his head, watching me.

"It doesn't really matter anymore." He said shortly. I rolled my eyes, grabbing the towel off of the table next to him and dipping it into the water.

He winced, hissing every now and then as I dabbed at the blood on his skin, trying to decipher what was wound and what was liquid.

"Why'd you come in here?" I asked quietly. Jamie's eyebrows shot up.

"Do you want me to leave?"

"It's a little late for that now, isn't it?" I retorted, trying not to laugh. "I just meant why you came in _here. _There are dozens of other students at the Institute-"

"Of which the majority wants to stab us." he said flatly, referring to our Carnival escapade.

"-and plenty of other girls which I'm sure would be happy to have you appear in their bedroom half naked."

"Hey now," he said somewhat defensively before smiling. "Your room is the farthest from Simon's. I didn't want to get caught since now they've got people guarding the doors. And besides," he leaned forward, prompting me to stop and look up. "I came in here fully clothed. It was your idea to take my shirt off."

I flung water at his face, his quiet laughter filling the room as he leaned back to let me start working again.

"Really," he said, calming down. "I'm not sure why I came in here. I just thought it made the most sense. Seeing as we...you know, I won't get to see you very much anymore." I bit down on my lip, ringing out the towel and getting it wet again. Jamie studied my face silently.

"We don't have to talk about it." I murmured.

"Yes we do."

"What is it that you want me to say?"

"How can you be okay with this?!" he grimaced, sitting forward and pushing my hand away. I sighed in exasperation.

"We've already been over this!"

"No, Hazel. I mean how can you be OKAY with the fact that you're-"

"I'm what?!" I demanded, standing to my feet. "That I'm dying? Yeah, I get it, thank you for reminding me."

"Are you joking?" he asked as I threw the towel into the water bowl. "You're the one who wouldn't let me forget it a few hours ago!"

"This is stupid. There's nothing to talk about. I have maybe a week left, if I'm lucky. Why would I want to dwell on it?"

"So what you're just gonna give up?"

"What other choice do I have?!" I asked, my voice shrill. "I'm not going to kill another person just so I can save my ass!"

"Death doesn't happen to you, it happens to the people you leave behind," Jamie hissed. "You're being selfish."

"Selfish." I repeated flatly. Jamie crossed his arms and stood, towering over me.

"Selfish."

Yoda meowed, weaving his way in between our legs. I sighed. There wasn't enough energy in my body to argue with him.

I pulled the bowl off of the table as Jamie's expression broke, his face faltering as he watched me walk into the bathroom. He followed me about halfway across the room before plopping down on the side of the bed and grabbing my stele from the bedside table. I dumped the water out into the sink, the white marble momentarily turning pink before washing away. Leaning against the sink, I stared into the mirror, my eyes lingering on my collar bone.

The toxin was spreading. The Rune, like a bloody rose on my shoulder, sat purple and blurry, black poison leaking out of it in all directions under my skin like vines. They licked across my left shoulder blade, crawling all the way up my shoulder and over the hill, flicking at my collarbone. It was getting worse by the day.

I sighed again and flicked off the light, leaning against the doorway and watching Jamie. He was wincing, his left hand turned awkwardly inward as he tried to re-draw the Rune on his chest. I sat gently next to him on the bed, crossing my legs underneath me and pulling the stele from his hand. Reluctantly, he gave it over, turning towards me.

I bit down on my lip, pushing the stele near him before pulling it away. Then moving towards him again, then pulling away again. Then moving, then pulling. And again. And again. And again.

"You have no idea what you're doing, do you?"

"I can do it!" I shot, sounding more like a bratty child than I wanted to. Jamie smiled lightly, shrugging.

"Don't trace over it," he said quietly. "There's no point, anyways."

"What do you want me to do then? Doesn't it hurt?"

"Have they taught you _iratze's _yet?" he asked. I nodded. "Okay. Do one of those." I took a deep breath before wiggling closer to him, our knees touching as I leaned forward and began drawing all around the right side of his chest.

"I'm sorry." he whispered. I didn't dare look at him. There was a chance I would cry.

"Don't be. It isn't your fault."

"Yes it is. I could've gotten to you faster and they wouldn't have touched you. They would've never gotten a hold of you and I could've, you could..."

"It's not your job to save the world, Jamie." I murmured.

"But I made it my job to save _you_." he whispered. This time I did look, and my stomach sank. "I promised I wouldn't leave."

"You're here now, aren't you?"

Jamie looked the saddest I had ever seen him. It wasn't the way he looked after hours of training with Jace. It wasn't the way he looked when he had his hands around my neck. It wasn't the way he'd looked at the carnival. All of those expressions were the same. They were harsh, and dignified. They were prideful and insecure, all at the same time. All games and seriousness in one complex mask. But this was different. Jamie looked _wounded. _He looked petrified and apologetic and weak. I had never seen this look on his face before. He bit the inside of his cheek, his eyes glistening slightly. Was he about to cry?

"Jamie..."

"It was my one job," he said softly, his voice nearly cracking. "I only wanted one thing and that was to keep you safe. You are _special. _You are special and you are so good and you're so brave and I don't understand why anything like this would ever happen to someone like you."

"Coming from someone who tried to choke me." I said jokingly, a small smile playing on my lips as I looked up at him.

"I didn't mean it," he said, rubbing a thumb over my cheek. "I just wanted to see what you could do. I wanted you to know how strong you are."

"Not everyone shows affection with tough love."

Jamie looked honestly confused by this statement, and it was just then that it dawned on me what he was. He had no idea how to love a person. He had never been correctly taught. Jamie had been brought up to believe that weapons and winning equaled approval and that pushing yourself and others past limits was some form of friendship. He didn't have buddies, he had teammates. He didn't have girlfriends, he had conquests. Jamie's entire life was a game that he was hell-bent on winning. It was everything he knew.

I looked down at the stele in my hands, lowering it into my lap.

"Sometimes I'm afraid," I admitted gently. I had never trusted a boy like this before. Not with what I had really felt. I prayed silently that he would never use it against me. "Sometimes I make lists of things I want to do before I die knowing that I'll never really do it." Jamie sat silently and listened. "And then I remember that everything will be better when I'm gone."

"For who?" he whispered. My eyes met his and he leaned forward slightly, my heart rate picking up.

"I'm tired." I said hurriedly, fear filling my tone. Jamie retreated immediately, nodding.

Without a word he began picking up his boots, his swords and blades clattering about obnoxiously.

"You're gonna wake the whole damn Institute!" I whisper-yelled, wincing as a dagger banged against the table. "Just sit down, sit down!"

Jamie made a face and sank into the leather chair, wincing. He would have to stay until morning broke.

"You need to sleep." I said softly. "And I mean get a GOOD sleep. Not in a leather chair." I pulled back half of the sheets, waving my hand at the bed.

"Is that an invitation?" he asked slyly. I rolled my eyes.

"If you touch me at all, I'll have Yoda eat you."

"Oh really?" he asked, clearly amused as the cat rolled around lovingly at his feet.

"Traitor." I grumbled, crawling underneath the heavy comforter. I turned to my side, facing the window as Jamie slid into bed next to me, careful to keep inches of space between us. Moments of silence passed after I switched off the light, shoving my fists under the pillow.

"Jamie?" I asked quietly.

"What's up, Princess?"

"Thank you for visiting me." I murmured sheepishly. Jamie reached over after a moment, finding my fingers in the dark underneath my pillow and squeezing them gently.

"Anytime."


	15. Atleast She Knocked

Yoda meowed quietly in my ear as I stretched. I kept hearing noises, but I couldn't be sure what it was. There was a heavy weight on my chest. Looking down, I saw it was Jamie, snoring lightly on my right boob.

"Classy, very classy." I muttered, untangling my arms from around him. How had we gotten there in the first place? I had made a strict no-touching policy last night. More pounding. Wait, was that knocking? Was that-

"HAZEL!" Anastasia pounded heavily on the door. "Answer me or I'm coming in there!"

Oh God. Oh shit. Oh God oh shit oh God. If Stasi came in now, she'd see...and she'd think...and she'd...oh God. I shoved Jamie off of my quickly, the both of us toppling to the floor in a messy heap of blanket and arms as his eyes snapped open. He shot me an angry look, swatting at me as I tried to slap him fully awake.

"Get up!" I hissed. "Get the Hell up NOW!" Jamie's eyes widened as Stasi pounded on the door once more. "Didn't I tell you not to touch me?!"

"Yeah I'm pretty sure that got shot to Hell the minute you started hogging all the blankets." he shot back acidly, scratching the back of his neck and throwing a pillow at me.

"Just a minute!" I called as Jamie groaned, heaving himself to his feet and trying to gather his things.

"Forget it!" I whispered, shoving everything under the bed as he bolted into the bathroom.

Water began ticking against the tile as he turned on the shower.

"ARE YOU RETARDED?" I hissed, shooting him a look. He winced.

"My bad, my bad." he waved his hands around before dropping his pants, standing gloriously in nothing but a pair of skin tight boxers. My jaw dropped and he smirked.

"Fuck it!" Stasi called through the door, the knob turning. I gasped, shooting into the bathroom and shoving the door closed behind me. Jamie was already in the shower, humming at that. I slapped him through the shower curtain.

"Hazel!" Stasi called. Shit.

"Yeah! Yeah I'm just...I'm in the shower!" I lied.

"Good!" Good? Why was that good? "I left my makeup bag in your bathroom!"

SHIT. SHIT SHIT SHIT.

My eyes went wide as the door knob jiggled slightly. Seconds before the door swung open I bit my lip and jumped into the shower. Jamie turned around, his eyes widening as I clamped a hand over his mouth and brought a finger to my lips to shush him.

"Say nothing." I whispered almost silently. Stasi was ruffling through her makeup bag on the counter.

"Everyone's already downstairs for breakfast. If you're hungry, I mean."

"Yeah, I'll be down in a second." I replied, praying she'd leave already.

"Are you okay? You sound...I mean you sound really off, Haze. I know it's been a rough couple days and everything but I-"

"I'm fine!" I chirped, my voice cracking. Anastasia's silhouette moved outside of the curtain. If she truly thought something was wrong, she'd check on me. Even if that meant intruding upon my shower...and if she pulled back the curtain now, she'd see Jamie in all his dignified nakedness. I stripped my shirt off quickly, shoving past Jamie and under the stream of water. I shook my head until my hair was soaked and popped my head out of the curtain just as Stasi began to reach for it.

"See?" I grinned. "Just fine."

She frowned slightly as if she didn't believe me before shrugging.

"Have you seen Jamie?" She asked suddenly, grabbing her makeup bag. "We went looking for him, but he's not here."

"Maybe he's still asleep?"

"Are you kidding? Jamie never sleeps in late."

I was about to tell her that Jamie had just in fact slept late with _me, _but I halted myself ahead of time. I simply shrugged, trying not to squeal as Jamie poked me in the butt cheek. Stasi stared at me for a long time before biting her lip.

"How do you feel?"

Jamie quit kidding around, suddenly still as the air around us grew heavy. I looked down at the floor, then back to her, sighing.

"I've been better," I shrugged honestly. "But not bad...Stasi, I'm okay."

"It's funny...seems like you're trying to convince everyone else instead of yourself. If I were you I'd be falling a part."

"But you're not me. You're lucky for that."

"I'm...I'll just see you downstairs." Stasi said hurriedly, her eyes growing wet as she bolted out of the door. I groaned and turned back to Jamie, whose eyes drifted upwards from my backside to meet mine a few seconds too late.

"What?" I snapped, crossing my arms, my bra getting soaked.

"You wanna share a towel too?"

For the hundredth time that morning, I hit him.


	16. Eavesdropping

"Stop fidgeting." Stasi murmured, knitting her eyebrows together as she snipped at me with the tweezers once more. I winced, trying to recoil. "I'm serious, I'm gonna take the whole thing off if you keep moving!" She studied my eyebrow with pursed lips.

"Why do we have to do this again?" I groaned, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. My shoulder was throbbing, but I resisted the urge to scratch at it like I'd become accustomed to doing.

"Because we can't have you going to the Inquisitor's ball with caterpillars on your face."

I pouted and crossed my arms over my chest, giving her free reign over me. Yesterday, when Lucy had practically exploded through the classroom door with a little black envelope in her hands, I expected she'd been accepted to Harvard or something. But no, the excitement stemmed from the annual Inquisitor's ball that took place in Idris. The fact that they were invited wasn't important. The fact that _I _was invited however, the first of all Downworlder's to ever be allowed to attend, was legendary. It was only expected that the Speaker for each species was also invited as a gift. One Speaker for each was allowed this year, meaning not only would I be facing the Shadowhunters, but my own kind as well.

As a Downworlder, they'd sent me through the Portal in a blindfold, Aaron opting to carry me over his shoulder like a potato sack as they shifted through the liquid matter. We were all taken to Heaven's Castle, the large and glorious home of Byron Gladney, or as Jamie liked to call him- Santa.

I'd spent hours roaming the large castle, skimming my fingers along it's broad stone walls and chilly corridors, but before I had time to protest Anastasia had cornered me and convinced Lucy to help her drag me into the guestroom where they'd been playing with me like a doll for hours.

"We should probably try to cover it up." Lucy murmured, poking the marred Rune near my shoulder. I looked at it as Stasi moved to retrieve her large makeup box from her suitcase. Instead of the day, the scar seemed to be getting worse by the hour. I'd been carrying it for nearly six days now, and each morning it burned deeper and darker into my flesh, the thin black lines trailer further and further down my back as it spread.

I didn't want to dwell on it, but my body's deterioration was hard to ignore. When I walked it felt like there were weights strapped to my ankles. When I shifted, my muscles ached. Breathing was beginning to feel like a chore all on it's own. My skin, although usually a honey color, was beginning to pale, my eyes starting to darken dramatically. Under normal circumstances they were a light brown, maybe even a hazel on a good day. Now they were almost black.

"I don't want to cover it up," I decided, Stasi raising her eyebrows at me as she popped the locks on her makeup container. "It's a brand. It's _my _brand. It makes me strong."

"Does it?" Lucy asked skeptically, taking me in with her eyes.

"Just because _I'm _dying doesn't mean my spirit is." I huffed. So much for trying to be sentimental.

"I get it," Stasi tried, pursing her lips as she picked out several tones of makeup. "I really do. It's just that...you know, it might scare some people."

"We're Shadowhunters, nothing scares us." Lucy grinned, plugging in a curling iron.

"What is that for?! My hair's already curly!" I cried, clinging to it. The iron sizzled against the wood of the dresser. She'd fry my poor locks off before I got the chance to run.

"Yes, but it's not Princess curly," Lucy said matter-of-factually. "There's a difference."

"And if I disagree?"

"Well you don't really have a choice considering you're too weak to run." she grinned evilly. I dropped my mouth open, trying not to laugh.

"Such a low blow." I grumbled, shaking my head at her. Lucy continued to smile as she sectioned out my hair.

Anastasia turned my face to her and began dabbing concealer onto the bags under my eyes.

"Sorry I'm so atrocious." I muttered, trailing my eyes over her flawless face. A hint of rosy blush swept over her creamy cheeks, dark gray eyeshadow looming above her black eyes. Her long black eyelashes were streaked with hot pink, her black glossy hair twirled into a crown of curls that spiraled over one of her shoulders. A thick smear of deep red lipstick brushed her mouth, a thin black dress hugging tightly to her body and flaring out mermaid-style at her kneecaps. Although Anastasia would've looked good in a paper sack, she of course took the more glamorous route and had taken it upon herself to bedazzle her gown with silver rhinestones over every available space.

"You're not atrocious, you're tired." Stasi defended, sitting back and pursing her lips before working on my skin again.

"I'm dying, that's what I'm doing." I laughed, trying to cover up a cough.

"I hate it when you use the D word." Lucy muttered behind me, steam rising in the air as she pulled the iron through my curls. I rolled my eyes.

"It's true."

"It's uncharacteristically cynical," Stasi retorted, looking me in the eyes. "Besides, I've been doing some research, and you should still be in the denial stage. You're coping with this inhumanly well."

"Perhaps it's because I'm _not _human," I argued. "I'm a freak."

"You're exquisite." Lucy corrected me, tapping the top of my head lightly.

"Everyone's accepted it by now, alright? I think we should stop dwelling and just keep pushing forward."

"Jamie hasn't accepted it." Stasi murmured. My face immediately flushed, and she raised an eyebrow at me. "He really likes you, you know."

"He feels sorry for me." I retorted, moving my lips as little as possible as she applied color to them. She rolled her eyes at me and Lucy started to chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"Jamie never feels sorry for anybody. If anything, he's twice as hard on you if you feel bad about yourself for anything. He wouldn't pay you nearly this much attention if he didn't like you."

"We're friends."

"Jamie doesn't have friends that are girls."

"Sure he does."

"Only when he's trying to sleep with them."

"So he's promiscuous?"

"Infamously so."

"I still don't buy it."

"Seriously. Anastasia is the only girl he hangs out with, and that's because she's family. He doesn't have female friends, I'm telling you."

"He has you and Heaven."

"Heaven and I don't exactly count as girls."

Stasi's jaw hit the floor and I swiveled in my seat, my eyes wide as I stared up at Lucy who was blushing furiously. She gripped the iron tightly, and for a moment I thought she'd stab me with it as if it would take her words back.

"CALLED IT." Aaron yelled, wriggling out from underneath the bed.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" I cried, extremely aware of the fact that I was sitting in nothing but a very small, very thin towel. Aaron shrugged, dusting his hair off.

"How did you even fit under there?" Lucy asked, knitting her eyebrows.

"That is BESIDE the point," Stasi yelled, pointing a brush at him. "YOU WERE EAVESDROPPING!"

"I was...researching," Aaron shrugged, flopping onto the bed. "Pink is definitely not Lucy's color. Darren is only an asshole because he has a small weiner, I saw it in the training locker room, and Jamie does, in fact, like Hazel. BUT ANYWHO, I'm not the one we should be yelling at right now." he said, raising an eyebrow at Lucy.

"What?!" She demanded.

"We had SUSPICIONS but Jesus Lucy we didn't expect you to just fess up!" Stasi cried. Lucy rolled her eyes.

"There's nothing wrong with it," I interjected. "We knew Heaven had a thing for you but I had no idea you felt the same way!"

"OH as if! No one can ignore the amount of eye-sex those two have in one sitting, your flirtation rivals Jamie and Hazel." Aaron snorted.

"Now that's saying something." Stasi agreed suddenly. I rolled my eyes and covered my face in my hands.

"Why don't you just say something?" Stasi asked, turning back to her makeup and my face. Lucy sighed, sectioning off more of my hair.

"It isn't...I mean...Heaven's Dad is one of the higher members of the Council. If he found out she was dating someone like me, he'd disown her."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because he told me."

"He knows she's gay?" I asked. Although the Clave had become more welcoming to their homosexual members, coming out to your parents hadn't become any easier a task. Aaron just nodded knowingly before opening his mouth.

"I don't understand what the big deal about your parents is, Luce. You shouldn't feel so bad about it. Honestly the Concil only act like that because they want to pretend they have some kind of false righteousness about themselves. They want to act like they're high society or some crap, it's bullshit. All of it."

"I know that, but they don't. I'd rather not say anything at all than make her choose between me and her Dad."

"What happened to her Mom?" I asked, staring at the ceiling as Stasi did my mascara.

"She left him when she found out he still disapproved of the Downworlders."

"Can't wait to meet him." I grumbled, my stomach turning over. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to meeting any of them. I knew what they thought of me. I was a parasite. An experiment gone wrong. I was never supposed to happen, and I'd brought a danger into their world that they'd never before had to face.

"You're nervous, aren't you?" Aaron asked softly, staring at me with his dark brown eyes. I shrugged, still watching the ceiling. "Does it hurt? Are you tired? Do you feel funny?"

"Jesus, Aaron." Stasi grumbled, shooting him a look. "You ask too many questions."

"I just get curious." he defended, slipping off of the bed and kneeling next to my chair.

I winced lightly as he brushed his fingers over the disfigured Rune on my shoulder.

"You're so brave." he murmured, snugging against my arm and leaning next to my side. I patted his head affectionately. Aaron was like a tiger. A giant, friendly tiger that purred when you pet him but bit fiercely when you attacked.

"Alright," Stasi breathed. Shooing Aaron away, she pulled a screen across the vanity so that I was hidden from sight as they bustled about the room. "It's time for her dress." Aaron whined as he was booted from the room, and as someone else opened the door, he spoke to them.

"Well well!" He cried. "Don't you look spiffy."

I furrowed my eyebrows together, slipping off my towel and standing in front of the vanity mirror as I tried to think of who he'd spoken to.

"Jamie, get out!" Stasi hissed. "You can't see her in her dress yet!"

"We're not getting married for Christ's sake!" he argued. My heart thudded lightly at the idea of a marriage to Jamie Lightwood. I'd be his wife. He'd love me. It would mean that I had feelings for him. Real, genuine feelings that I've never had before. Mrs. Hazel Lightwood.

But I pushed the thoughts from my mind, quickly reminded that marriage wasn't in my cards as the Rune on my shoulder seared, nearly dropping me to my knees. I clutched the edge of the vanity, clenching my teeth.

"You okay back there?" Jamie asked, although I didn't answer.

"Just leave, she's getting dressed!"

"I want to talk to her," he argued, pressing against the dressing screen. I sighed, leaning against it and feeling him on the other side.

"You okay?" he asked again, his voice low murmur. I bit my lip.

"Yeah, I'm alright." I lied.

"You don't have to be afraid okay? I mean I know you have reason to be..but..."

"Is Jamie Lightwood finally going easy on somebody?" I teased quietly. I heard him chuckle.

"No," he said softly. "I'm just reminding you of how brave you are. And if you feel afraid don't show it to these people. I'll be right next to you the entire night."

I paused at this, holding onto his words before he began to stammer.

"I mean-that's I mean...only if you want me there. Like you know? I mean it's just-you know-"

"By the Angel just leave the poor girl alone!" Stasi cried, shooing him out of the room. "You'll see her in half an hour, just let her get dressed!"

I knit my eyebrows together at the idea of a dress that would take half an hour to squeeze into as the door shut to the room. Jamie was gone. Lucy pulled the screen back slightly, a large white dress-bag slinging over the side of screen. I hooked it to the top of the dressing screen, unzipping it all the way to the floor, and winced at what was revealed.

"You've got to be joking." I said loudly, staring at the ball gown. I could practically hear Stasi grinning

on the other side.

"Unfortunately my dear, this is not a joke."

"You'll have to stuff me into this dress if you want me to wear it because I refuse."

"That's the thing," Stasi muttered, slinging the screen aside as Lucy crept up behind me and slung a rope around my hands. "We had a feeling you'd say that."


	17. Angel Of Death

**M83- Outro**

**~Jamie POV~**

* * *

People were streaming between the lower level of the castle, all chattering and laughing and shimmering as beads and jewels and blades reflected light like diamonds. The ballroom was large, the floors checkered marble and the ceiling white stone. Three large staircases occupied one side of the room, thick black iron bars scaling them gracefully. Angels were carved into the walls, a large stone fountain in the center of the room where Michael spread his wings gracefully for eternity. It was all beautiful to look at, but my mind was already racing.

I downed another shot of fire-whiskey, wincing slightly as it burned the back of my throat. The room was crowded with mass amounts of people, too many for me to count as music blared in the air. There were hundreds of Shadowhunters all crowded into one large room, each of them dressed in black and silver, the colors of bravery, of our fighting and strength. My Father looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"Nervous, are we?"

"Not for me," I shot quickly. "For her."

"You care about her an awful lot for someone who claims hatred." he commented idly, trailing a finger around the rim of his wine glass. He was dressed in his usual Shadowhunter gear, Mom standing only a few feet away with Isabelle, both of them dressed in black gowns.

"Fine," I grumbled, taking another shot. "I don't hate her. It doesn't mean I like her."

"Tell that to someone who doesn't know you like the back of their hand." Heaven grinned, pecking me on the cheek before pulling the shot glasses out of my reach. She adjusted a Seraph blade on my back.

"I'm serious, I don't like her!" I scanned the room looking for a distraction. "Speaking of liking people..."

Lucy appeared beside us with Anastasia. Lucy hugged Heaven tightly, telling her she looked beautiful before they watched each other a moment too long and broke their gaze.

"So who were we talking about hating?" Lucy asked innocently.

"No one." I grumbled.

"Good," Stasi whispered into my ear. "Look alive."

Heaven raised an eyebrow, her eyes going wide as she stared at something behind me. "She's beautiful." she whispered. Lucy nodded in agreement, staring past me.

"Oh my God."

I followed her gaze and turned around, my eyes traveling up the large white marble staircase on the other side of the room. The crowd became a hushed silence all at once, the large ballroom quieting as Hazel stood at the top of the stairs.

It was like looking at the sun for the first time in your life. Heat spread throughout my body as she descended the stairs slowly, the blood-red hem of her gown brushing sweetly across the ground. It trailed behind her, the diamonds on her black corset shimmering in the light of the large chandelier up above. Small black, silk straps hung off of her shoulders, the dress flaring out in deep red ripples of silk at her hips. I could feel my mouth opening, but no words came out.

Immediately I began to push through the crowd, the light of her skin drawing me closer and closer as if I couldn't help it. She was gorgeous. Beyond gorgeous, she was flawless. The neckline of her dress dipped dangerously low, the fabric clinging to her torso so that her curves were impossible to ignore. Bright red lipstick was brushed across her lips, her usually tight curls loosened and flowing gracefully down to the middle of her back. Half of her hair was pulled up, secured with a silver glittering dagger pin.

The crowd began to part for both of us, her dark eyes locking on mine as she continued to walk. They all watched her, somewhat fearfully and somewhat in awe as she bravely displayed the marred Rune on the back of her shoulder, the inky poisonous lines stretching like vines over her collarbone and down her back.

It was like I'd never truly looked at her before. With the passing days, she'd began to look more and more ill and it killed me to watch the way she struggled to move and breathe. But none of that was apparent now. She walked gracefully, proudly even, with dignity and fearlessness that made my heart race more than any demon ever could. She was glowing, illuminating the room with Heavenly Fire as if it were seeping through her pores.

"All dressed up, just for me?" she asked slyly, teasing me as she looked up. I bit my lip. Her eyes, a usual hazel, were turning black with her sickness.

"What are you talking about?" I retorted softly. "I always look this good."

"Something like that." she allowed, wrinkling her nose slightly before smiling.

"You look beautiful." I whispered, resisting the temptation to touch her face. Her cheeks flushed red, and a humming started to grow low in my ears. My hands inched forward, moving to hold her waist before they jerked back, Byron's loud, booming voice snapping us back to reality.

"Ladies and Gentleman, it seems that our very special guest as finally arrived!" he cheered. The crowd murmured, clapping politely as Hazel tried to keep herself from staring at the floor. "Easy now, son," he scolded me teasingly. "We know you'd like to dance with the prettiest girl in the room but let's give everyone a turn shall we not?"

The crowd laughed and my cheeks went hot as I scratched the back of my neck, smiling as charmingly as I could.

"Ah, young love. Those were the days." Byron mused loudly. The very fact that he'd referred to Hazel and I as "in love" sent a shockwave through my body, my chest burning ruefully as I clenched my jaw to keep from crying out. I sucked in a deep breath, turning back towards Heaven and the others as Byron hooked his arm around Hazel's and began introducing her to several members of the Council.

"What?" I snapped as my Father took a sip of his drink, smiling and raising an eyebrow.

"Oh nothing," he mused. "You're just so much more like me than you claim."

"Whatever." I grumbled, taking another shot. Heaven grinned.

"What was that about not liking Hazel again?" she asked slyly. I nudged her playfully with my hip, trying not to laugh.

"Jamie, I want you to meet someone," Mom brisked in, a tall, dark woman holding on to her arm as she walked. "This is Madame Venice Mary, the oracle from Spain." I took the woman's hand gently, shaking it as softly as I could, her gray eyes staring unseeingly into space. I knew enough about the old woman to acknowledge the fact that she was blind.

"Nice to meet you," I said kindly. "I've heard many great things."

"Great? You must be speaking to only the bravest of people, then." The woman mused, smiling. A bit of purple lipstick was smeared against her teeth, and her hair hung in heavy frizzed curls.

"We're Shadowhunters, we're all brave." I laughed.

"Some more than others, I hear. Do I not speak to Jamie Lightwood, one day to become the Greatest of All Time?"

"It's just a title," I lied. "A rumor because of my Father. He's the one who's truly amazing."

"Humility becomes you, young man, although I sense it's the only time you've ever shown it. Pride radiates from you like a stench."

"Then I must say I'm very sorry to offend. The title is a goal of mine, I'll admit."

"A goal you will not soon achieve with the little brown one involved."

My body went rigid, Mom's eyes snapping up to the woman's face as Dad raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The legend tells of a Shadowhunter who's abilities surpass of Johnathan himself, do they not?"

"They do."

"And what else does the legend tell you, young one?"

"It was from a prophet who visited us in Silent City," I started, the story fresh in my mind. "When I was born my parents took me to have the usual enchantments placed over my soul and one of the Silent Brothers had a prophecy. He said one day I'd become the greatest, at the cost of an enemy's life."

"An enemy?" she mused. I had a feeling she was answering her own questions. "Are you sure it not to be a friend?"

"Yes, an enemy. I assume it's one of the Greater Demons? They weren't specific."

"Such goes with prophecies, although they have yet to tell you that you die, I assume?"

"All Shadowhunter's die."

"But at what cost?"

"A great one, I'm assuming." I'd never faced the question before, because I knew what "Great Cost" meant to me. It meant my parents. It meant my friends. It meant if I were to be the Greatest Shadowhunter of All Time, I'd be alone.

"Did you ever once ask the terms of your death? Did you ever once ask that perhaps, someone else's prophecy included killing you so that they could ascend to greater power?"

"I suspected as much," I admitted. "But that's the point. Two intertwined prophecies. We meet and fight. An age long battle. Whoever wins is the one who becomes the Greatest."

"So simple in a silly boy's mind."

"Silly?"

"Do you not understand the true nature of your own powers? I will give you a hint, young one," she leaned in, puling my ear to her lips. "The best way to defeat your enemy, is to understand them."

"Who is my enemy then?" I teased, exchanging light smiles with my family. This woman was old. She was crazy. "Who kills me?"

The woman slid a spoon from the table, dipping it into my Father's glass. He made a face at her as she sipped his wine from the spoon before pointing it to a place in the crowd. We all turned, our eyes following the direction in which she was pointing. Ten feet away, Hazel was being introduced to Athena Blackthorne and her son, Hemus. Her dress dipped down in between the dimples on her back, her spine showing lightly through her soft skin. She was getting skinny from the illness. The Rune seemed to be glowing as we watched it, the vines stretching all the way over to her other shoulder like a tree branch. The whole world seemed to slow down as my Father dropped his glass.

"She does."


	18. Omen

**Grammaphone Lullaby- Marco Beltrami**

**Under the Sky of Paris - André Rieu & The Johann Strauss Orchestra**

**Clint Mansell-Death is The Road To Awe**

**~Hazel POV~**

* * *

As Jace parted with the rest of the group, another Shadowhunter muttering something about a problem at the Accords, all four of my friends, plus one crazy looking black woman, were staring at me in confusion, like I'd sprouted a third eye from across the room. Byron was saying something in my ear, but his voice was a low murmur underneath the heavy sound of the music. For a moment, the room looked like it was swaying, and the hum of an orchestra started to grow in the fuzz of the world around me.

Before I knew it, Jamie had strode towards me and grabbed my hand in his, lacing one of his arms around my waist. He was swaying me across the floor, the room spinning as I gripped onto his shoulder with my free hand. It wasn't until I slowed my breathing that I realized we were waltzing.

"You could at least _pretend _that you're not a complete trainwreck." He growled, watching the people around us instead of looking at me. I knit my eyebrows together.

"What the Hell is wrong with you?" I demanded, closing my nails in on the sleeve of his black shirt. He was wearing a white bow tie, suspenders, a black button down shirt rolled up to his elbows, and two Seraph blades strapped tightly to his back. I didn't want to say he looked good, but damn...

"Oh nothing," he lied, twirling me in a circle and slamming me back into his body. "I just really can't stand the idea of betrayal. Have you ever taken in a stray animal only to have it bite you like a beast?"

"Are you referring to me as a dog?" I hissed, glancing at his Mom who was dancing only a few feet away. Darren swung Clary in a large circle, and for the moment her eyes met mine, she glared at me.

"What is wrong with everyone?" I demanded. "What did I do?"

"It's not what you've done but what you were planning on doing."

"Well would you like to fill me in? I'm a little lost on why everyone's looking like I murdered their dog."

"Not the dog," Jamie murmured, dipping me and staring into my face, my back arched towards the ground. "Me."

"Are you joking?" I asked as he lifted me back up, spinning me away at arm's length and allowing me to spin back. We were chest-to-back now, one of my arms crossed across my body as he swayed with me. Couples were swirling all around us, masses of black and red and silver dresses flashing across my vision.

"Afraid not, cupcake. Don't act so stupid."

"Whatever you're talking about has been either fabricated from your own wild imagination, or it was planted there by someone." I growled as the tempo changed.

"You must think I'm pretty dull."

"If I wanted to kill you don't you think I would've done it already?"

"Maybe you were waiting for the most opportune moment." he shot, his lips brushing against my ear and sending shivers down my spine.

"I had you in my bed, Jameson Alexander Lightwood. I believe the opportune moment has come and passed."

Jamie spun me tightly against his body so that I was facing him again, unable to move in his grip. The way he looked at me made me wish I was already dead, his eyes cold and empty.

"Don't ever talk about that again," he said icily. "Anything I've ever felt, anything I've ever said, is to be forgotten. We are nothing."

"Oh don't say that," I whined sarcastically as I pushed away from him. "That would imply we were something to begin with."

Jamie's hard expression broke, hurt flickering across his face before it was replaced with anger and he shoved his way through the crowd, leaving me in the sea of swirling bodies. The waltz still blared in the background as the air grew thick around me, the wind dragging through my lungs as I tried not to wheeze.

"Is it true?!" Stasi demanded, her earrings glittering in the light as stomped over to me, her face furious.

"No!" I cried, looking at Lucy and Heaven as they joined her side, the crowd still dancing. "I don't know where any of this is coming from I would never hurt any of you!"

"Hazel..."

"You have to believe me!" I pleaded, shaking my head. "If I wanted you dead you'd be dead already haven't you thought about that? I've been with you for a month now, I would've had plenty of chances."

"She has a point." Heaven said softly, glancing at the other two.

"Madame Venice has never told an untrue prophecy." Stasi spat, her eyes furious. "If she said Hazel will kill him, Hazel will kill him."

"That doesn't make any sense, why in the HELL would I want Jamie dead?"

"Why wouldn't you?" Lucy challenged. "Miss 'I can't stand him'."

"I think we've all come to the collective conclusion that I do not in fact hate Jamie Lightwood." I spat at her. "Or did you forget that we were best friends an hour ago?" Lucy flinched, and I pressed a hand to my stomach, looking around the swirling room. I felt like I was going to vomit.

"We have to believe her," Heaven shrugged. "Look at her, Stas, she couldn't even kill a fly in the shape she's in."

"Why the oracle lie?" Stasi argued, keeping herself at a safe distance from me.

"Come with me." Darren ordered, wrapping a hand around my wrist as he breezed past me and dragging me along. He pushed further into the crowd before twirling me, beginning to waltz just as his friend

"Is it true?" he demanded.

"Did all of you write the same questions down before bombarding me?" I shot irritatedly, Darren tightening his grip on my hand so that one of my knuckles popped.

"Is. It. True?" he growled again. I clenched my jaw.

"No."

"Why would the oracle lie?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask her?"

"Why don't you keep the sarcasm to yourself for now. You're not in a position to piss us off any further."

"Oh, so it's 'us' again and not 'we'?"

"We don't affiliate with traitors."

"Which means I should still be a part of this family."

"We can't trust you."

"I've had plenty of chances to kill Jamie. If I wanted it, he'd already be dead."

"Then why isn't he?"

"Because I'm not here to kill him." I hissed.

Darren shoved away from me immediately, allowing another man to take his place as he returned to Clary, muttering to her in secret as they danced. I stared up at the tall, sickly-thin looking man in front of me. He had a long, hooked nose and a mouth seemingly set into a permanent frown. Lines of irritation creased his forehead and between his eyebrows, which were thick and as dark as his slicked back greasy hair. The silk of his black robe brushed against my skin as we twirled through the crowd.

"Consul Pluemon." I muttered as graciously as I could, staring up at him unnervingly.

"Ms. Roberts," he acknowledged icily. "I bet you've been _dying _to meet me."

The death joke was stifling, I wanted to punch him right then and there, but I assumed quickly that a reaction was what he wanted and I had to do my best not to humor him.

"I hear such great things about you," I lied. "Like how you tried to convince the Counsil to slaughter me right there in the Carnival field."

"Well of course a creature of your standards wouldn't understand anything about dignity and protecting the lives of your own kind...You aren't even sure which kind you belong to, do you?"

"I belong here." I shot confidently, catching Jamie's gaze for a few seconds over the Consul's shoulder as he twirled me. I flickered my eyes back to the mans face.

"Did the Lightwood boy tell you that?" Pluemon asked slyly, watching as Jamie shoved back through the crowd and up the stairs. He disappeared behind a set of heavy wooden doors, Darren and Clary following after him.

"Leave him out of this."

"Of course, do tell me on when you planned to slaughter him?"

"You too, huh?"

"Word travels quickly."

"I can promise you I have no idea what anyone is talking about. I'm not here to hurt anybody."

"But of course not, you couldn't hurt a fly."

"Not the first time I've heard that tonight." I muttered.

"Tell me," The Consul hissed evilly, spinning me out and pulling me tightly back, his fingers trailing over the Rune on my shoulder. The skin sizzled underneath his touch, a pain that nearly sent me to my knees immediately. "Does it burn terribly?"

I clenched my jaw, the Consul immediately releasing me and plastering a smile across his face as the Inquisitor lumbered over cheerfully.

"Sweet girl, isn't she Consul?" Byron boomed, grinning and nudging me with his elbow. The Consul nodded.

"The sweetest."

I wanted to spit on him.

"SOMEBODY HELP!"

Everyone in the crowd turned to Lucy, Madame Venice clutching her arm so tightly she bled. The woman's eyes were glowing a profound and electric blue, her hair seeming to crackle friction as she gazed into the crowd blankly, seeing something only she could witness. Her voice was booming and inhuman, filling the quieted room with fear.

"_Bring forth the child of Heavenly Fire." _she commanded harshly, her arm shooting forward with her hand outstretched. Everyone looked to me as Jamie and his parents came out of the room above. Jamie was shoving through the crowd, Darren and Clary clinging to the banister anxiously as they watched on. The Consul nudged me, not so subtly, forward, and the crowd made way for me to walk to the woman slowly.

I lifted my hand gingerly, the blue glow of her eyes illuminating my face as my fingertips brushed hers. Her hand snapped shut around mine, jerking me forward so quickly my knuckles cracked and I sank to my knees. The oracle's mouth open, blue light pouring out. Her voice filled the room although she did not speak.

"_The child of Heavenly Fire shall be born of a sacrifice and purity unknown to many hearts, and so shall bring with her birth the strength and kindness of heaven's best. Fire will burn through her veins and her heart as a toxin should she not conform to it- she shall succumb or she shall over come."_

The Rune on my shoulder seared. I reached my other hand up, clawing at her arm in an attempt to get away, but it was futile. She had a vice-like grip. Immovable. I screamed, the poison stretching further throughout my torso than it ever had before. She began on her prophecy.

"_Soon the world shall fall again,_

_Amongst the hand of Heaven's sin,_

_A child born of Hell and Earth,_

_Poisoned by the Angel's hearth, _

_Blood be given as reward,_

_A sacrifice for child's ward,_

_The demon spawn of Angel's love,_

_A blessing from the God above,_

_A choice be made for dark or light,_

_A Fire burning through the night,_

_Will she save the Angel's then?_

_Or breathe the fires of Hell on men?"_

She let go of my hand immediately, the air rushing back into my lungs as I fell on to my elbow, clutching my sore hand to my chest. I heaved in breath after breath of air, tears threatening to spill over on to my cheeks as Aaron lifted me from the ground and held me to his chest. The woman shook her head a few times and then blinked, before looking around the room with her blind eyes.

"Lucy dear, are you still there?" She asked, her voice normal again. "What happened to all the music?"

"I told you!" The Consul cried, looking around the room. "I told you she couldn't be trusted!"

"What are you talking about?!" I cried. "I haven't done anything! I don't know what any of you are talking about!"

"Weren't you listening?" Darren demanded as if I were stupid. "You alone will either save the Angels or kill us all."

"Maybe both if you're feeling particularly insane." Jamie commented, crossing his arms. I sighed and buried my face into Aaron's chest, trying to catch my breath.

"She is in perfect control of what she can do." Clary argued, standing in front of me at my defense. I knit my eyebrows together as I watched her. I was almost positive that she, along with everyone else, hated me. What had happened in that room upstairs?

"Show us then," the Consul demanded. "Demonstrate this well-tamed talent."

"I'm not sure..if I..." I started.

"_Exactly,"_ Pluemon hissed. "_Because you cannot tame fire."_

I pushed away from Aaron, moving around Clary. I would not let this man speak to me as if he knew anything I was going through. I looked to her and she nodded confidently. Clary believed in me. Byron did too, by the look on his face as he smiled encouragingly. I took a deep breath, holding my hand out in front of my face.

I bit down on my lip, a numbness washing over my fingertips as they tingled. Heat began to spread through my body, starting in my heart and reaching through my right arm, first over my shoulder and then to my forearm. The skin of my wrist began to glow, flames starting to seep through it like water to paper. Soon, my entire hand was burning, heat radiating off my fingertips as the flames licked calmly all around my hand. I looked at Consul Pluemon defiantly, waiting for his response.

"Impossible." he breathed, his eyes wide as he took a step back. He was afraid, as he should've been.

I laid my hand down, the flames sinking back underneath my skin as I watched he floor.

"I'm not here to hurt anyone," I said loudly, speaking to the entire crowd. "If I wanted to, I would have already. I don't know anymore than you all do, so I am _begging _you to help me."

"I will." Aaron said confidently, standing by my side and grabbing my hand. Anastasia and Lucy followed, Heaven quickly joining her. Darren rolled his eyes before throwing an arm around his sister and shooting the Consul a look.

"We believe in her," Lucy said bravely. "Do you?"

Before anyone could answer, the front doors of Byron's elaborate castle swung wide open, the heavy wood groaning as it parted . Everyone turned towards the front of the room, Jordan Perez standing slouched in the large doorway. Blood dripped off of him like rainwater, covering the ground at his feet in seconds. His face was all torn up and marred with long cuts, his Shadowhunter gear torn to shreds. He sank to his knees, pressing one hand against the ground as he clutched his stomach, wailing.

"I'M SORRY!" he cried, the Consul's eyes growing wide. "I'm so sorry!"

"What is it boy?! What did you do?!" Byron demanded worriedly, hurrying to his side.

"I smeared, I...I smeared the demon blood on the walls, I..."

"WHAT?!" Byron screamed, backing away. The boy reached for him, blood dripping off of his arms. The room was horror-struck.

"I'm sorry!" Jordan screamed again. "He told me I, he...He told me to.."

"Creto has planned an attack on Idris!" Consul cried, his eyes blazing.

"NO!" Jordan screamed, anger washing over him. "Y-"

"Seize him!" Pluemon demanded, several Shadowhunters taking the boy by the arms and shoving them behind his back. Jordan searched the crowd, his eyes landing on Jamie, who gasped. There was a large, marred Rune on Jordan's back, poisonous vines flicking out underneath his skin in every which direction.

It was the same Rune I was carrying.

Jordan wasn't close to death. He was practically tasting it. I watched as the Rune spread under his skin like black blood, his flesh sizzling as he screamed.

"Jamie"! He cried. "Jamie your Dad! Get to the Accords Hall! They're in the Accords Hall!" Those were his last words as his face it the ground, life leaving his body as it slumped over.

I turned to Clary, whose mouth was wide open in shock, tears brewing in her eyes. Byron was trying to calm down the crowd of anxious and yelling people. I turned to look for Jamie.

But he was already gone.


	19. Howl

**Two Steps From Hell- Archangel(Extended)**

**Two Steps From Hell-To Glory**

**Two Steps From Hell- Cry**

* * *

Every muscle in my body was aching as we sprinted through the forest, Jamie a good fifty yards ahead. There was no way we could catch up to him. Even Lucy, who reminded me of a slinky little fox with the way she always moved, could not pace him. A tree branch whipped across my face as I stumbled through the dirt, Aaron yanking me up and throwing me forward by the strap of my dress. We could hear the screaming from the Accords Hall by now, the screeching of demons muddled with the shouts of angry Shadowhunters.

The moment we'd all left the walls of Gladney Manor, the demons were alerted. We could begin to see them now, dozens of Shadowhunters sprinting amongst the trees and battling demons amongst the pine and thick roots. The fog clung so tightly to the air it was hard to breathe, and Heaven screamed as a vampire leaped in front of her to tackle a demon. The large white granite building of the Accords Hall was peeking through the trees, and as we drew closer there was only one thought racing through my mind.

_Please don't let us be too late._

Jamie ripped his Seraph blades from his shoulders and exploded through the front door, not even bothering to announce his presence as he began slicing his way through the sea of demons ahead.

"HAZEL!" I threw myself against the white stairs as Stasi's Elephant soared over my head, landing in the thick, molten skin of a Ravanor demon above. I scrambled towards the doors, ripping Ember from the strap on my thigh.

The heavenly rod burst to life immediately, growing into the six foot blade I'd come to love, the steel glowing a dangerous golden color. There was no time for hesitation. I began slicing anywhere it was necessary, demons clawing and ripping at my dress until one of the straps was torn from my shoulder, a thick long gash running down my left arm. I had to find Jamie.

I scanned the crowd, Jamie's angry face coming into my sight almost instantly. He had ascended one of the large staircases and was cutting his way through it like a maniac, his movements so quick that I had a hard time keeping track of them.

"Go!" Heaven yelled, rolling over the shoulders of a demon and thrusting an arrow straight into its throat. "I'm right behind you, go!"

I swung Ember in a wide arc, fire following the blade as the demons squealed and scrambled away from me. One of the demons shot it's claws out towards my face, and I brought the rod down, deflecting its arm towards the ground. I spun, shoving the blade into its sternum and sweeping myself underneath it's arm. Two steps down. Almost a hundred left to go.

Darren flew into the banister next to me, crashing into the wall so hard that it cracked, his Morning Star dripping blood as it dragged against the ground. He rolled out of the way as acid flew through the air, sizzling the marble where it splattered. Darren's eyes went wide before he looked back at the demon who'd spat acid at him.

"Not fucking fair at all." he grumbled, leaping to his feet and tackling the demon. The mucus on it's skin burned him and he cried out as they rolled across the ground.

"GO!" Heaven commanded again, snapping me out of my stupor as one of her arrows sailed past my face, hitting a demon in the forehead. It burst into to ash and I ran through the cloud it left behind, swooping Ember into an uppercut and slicing another straight in half.

One of Jamie's Seraph blades clattered to the ground at my feet. I looked up, my heart thudding as a demon wrapped it's clawed fingers around his throat, lifting him from the ground. Heaven shoved past me, tackling both of them to the ground. Jamie rolled across the banister, slipping until his hand gripped the very bottom of the iron, dangling him a good fifteen feet from the ground. As the battle surged around us, I cut through another line of Ravenors, dropping to my knees and wrapping my hands around Jamie's wrists. I grunted, his face contorted as we both struggled to lift him up and over the iron.

I looked around the room desperately. There were only about a dozen of us Shadowhunters, those still at the Ball either had children to attend to or were on their way, but no matter what was going on in the rest of Alicante, we were losing this fight- and badly. We had been so unprepared, the thought of an attack on our sacred lands never once crossing our minds. If we were going to win, we needed help.

Jamie looked up at me, his elbows on the stairs as he seemed to read my thoughts like I'd spoken them out loud. He nodded slightly and I squeezed my eyes shut, praying to the Angels that being a partial demon would be useful for once in my life. I sucked in a deep breath, my heart racing as I did the one thing I never thought I'd possibly do.

I howled.

It was a loud, shrill sound, louder than my human voice was ever capable of, and it rang off the walls of the Accords Hall like a siren. It was a desperate plea for help. The entire room paused in their fight, staring up at me, the demons and Purified Ones dropping to their knees and covering their ears as the Shadowhunters staggered on their feet. The noise was rippling out of me like vomit, I didn't know how to stop it even if I wanted to.

I lowered my head, heaving in a deep breath as my voice quieted, and for the first time in centuries, all of Alicante was silent.

Until the wolves howled back.

Dozens of them were coming, maybe a hundred. The room began to quiver, the vibration of a thousand paws beating against the soil so fiercely it sent shockwaves throughout the entire building. They exploded through the windows, glass raining down on all of us as they began sinking their teeth into demon and Soldier alike, the fight raging on as if it had never stopped.

I heaved Jamie towards me once more, falling backwards onto the stairs as he rolled over the banister. He landed directly on top of me, his arms framing my face as he stared into my eyes.

"You followed me." he whispered, somewhat awe-struck.

"To the ends of the Earth." I murmured. Before he could answer, I shoved him off of me, raising Ember above us just in time to block the blade of a Soldier. The man grunted and shoved his foot into my side, knocking the breath out of me as Jamie tackled him, the both of them tumbling down the stairs. They collided with the floor, knocking demons off of their feet as they went.

I snatched up my rod, pushing further up the stairs. I had to find Jace. I had to make sure he was okay.

A Soldier roared, swinging his sword at me and missing my cheek by centimeters. I elbowed him in the chest, spinning and shoving the heel of my palm against his adam apple. He staggered backwards, clutching his throat as I twirled Ember in an upwards arc, catching him under the chin with the base and flipping him over. As he landed on the ground I shoved the blade deep down into his chest, blood gurgling at the edges of his mouth as I left him there to die.

I shoved through the black iron doors at the top of the double staircase only to find another battle.

"The Clave is gonna be so pissed." Aaron muttered next to me as we gazed upon the Hall of Fine Artifacts. Glass and pottery was shattered all over the ground. He ran forward into the battle, swinging his ax over his head like a lumberjack. I followed him quickly, covering his tracks as he cut through the crowd of Purified Soldiers that had portaled into Alicante with Jordan's help. As Aaron elbowed his way past a demon, a Soldier rounded on him, barely giving me enough time to deflect the blade away from his spine. I stomped the heel of my shoe into his foot and the man wailed, snatching my foot up and throwing me to my back. He raised his sword, ready to chop off my leg when Stasi collided with him, having been thrown my a demon ten feet away. They rolled across the ground and I swiped Ember from the floor, sweeping it low to the ground and slicing him all the way up his side.

A demon yanked Stasi from the ground by her long ponytail, dragging her across the floor like a broom as a Soldier grabbed my shoulders from behind.

"Dominus wants this one alive!" He called to an extremely large, thick man. He had short, blond cropped hair and deep-set beady eyes under heavy eyebrows. His neck was nearly non-existing due to the girth of his shoulders, and Creto's insignia was burned into the skin of his partially-exposed chest. He must have been the leader of Creto's men.

Stasi screamed, slicing her Elephant through the air at the Soldiers and demons who tried to attack her as she was pulled along the stone floor. Darren leaped at her feet, his fingers just missing her ankle as the demon yanked her forward. Darren rolled, dodging the blade of a soldier and kicking him square in the chest before raising his Morning Star over his head and jumping back to his feet.

"FUCK IT." Stasi yelled. I watched wide-eyed as she pulled Elephant across her own hair, separating her from the demon's hold. The demon stopped, looking confused at the mass of hair in his hands before Anastasia sliced one of his legs off, dropping him to the ground so that she could finish him.

I threw my head back, jamming it into the Soldier's chin and wriggling free of his hold. I landed a right hook to his jaw, grabbing Ember and uppercutting him. Clary appeared next to me, her fiery hair having fallen out of it's elegant bun and hanging frizzed at her shoulders.

"What the Hell are you doing here?!" I cried.

"I'm not leaving my husband." She breathed, before pushing on through the crowd. I followed her, cutting through demon after demon as if I were born for it. My mind was on autopilot as Ember moved in my hands, my feet dancing along the ground with grace that I never knew I had. Clary snatched Jamie by the wrist and yanked him through the crowd after her.

"The others will handle them!" She called as Aaron and I looked back at the other Shadowhunters and werewolves, afraid to leave them. "I saw Jace on the roof!"

We sprinted through room after room, one of us occasionally being caught up in a tangle of demon claws or Soldier fists. Clary lead us up staircase after staircase, my legs burning so badly I was afraid they'd literally catch fire if I ran any longer. The rune on my back was searing with an intensity I'd never felt before, the adrenalin keeping the pain at bay. I was terrified of what would happen after I stopped moving.

Finally, we burst onto the roof. Cool air washed over me like a blessing until the sound of clashing metal and screeching reached my ears and snapped me back to reality. Jace was fifty feet away, taking on at least a dozen demons at once. Immediately, Jamie sprinted towards them, a Seraph blade in each hand as he roared, slicing through the hellish creatures.

They could've been twins at this distance, Jamie and Jace. The only distinction was Jamie's bronzed, reddish brown curls that seemed to sparkle with the light seeping from the greenhouse windows below us. Wait...

"Shit..." I breathed, looking down. The roof was constructed entirely of glass.

Glass that was cracking.

"MOVE!" I screamed, everyone panicking as they looked down underneath us. I raised Ember, trying to be light on my feet as a demon lunged at me, baring it's razor sharp teeth. One of it's claws sank into my lower back and I twisted away, ripping it from it's hand. I tore the claw from my back, eying it in horror before throwing it. The demon screeched, giving me an opportunity to rip off my high heel like a boomerang. The sharp stiletto lodged itself in the demons eye and I shoved Ember through it's chest.

A few feet away, Jamie and Jace were still dancing with the devils, the glass groaning underneath them. Watching Jace was like watching a ballet.

He leaped over the talons of a demon as it swung at his shins, sinking his Seraph blade into it's skull before rolling off of it's back and landing onto the shoulders of another. Jamie twisted towards his father, shoving Ezekial through the demon's chin. Jace hopped off of the shoulders, tackling another to the ground that was moving towards Clary. He mounted it like a lion, sinking Joseph into it's forehead until it turned to ash. As he rolled, dodging the blade of a Soldier, he pulled a dagger from his boot as Jamie held it still. Rolling backwards and pushing into a handstand before landing on his feet, he threw the dagger with deadly aim, the blade sinking right in between the Soldier's eyes.

Jamie swung under the arm of a demon, Jace kicking it square in the chest and sending it onto it's back. Jamie brought his blade down on the demon, grinning at his Father's smirk of approval. The joy was short-lived, Jamie snapping to attention as Heaven screamed in the crowd. He bolted towards her, his _parabatai _instincts kicking into full gear as he slid into a demons legs like they were first-base. It collapsed, releasing it's grip on Heaven and dropping her to the ground.

Jace, in the center of the rooftop, was thrown onto his back. Clary surged forward, being blocked by two Soldiers and gripping her dagger as she eyed them. Jace's eyes went wide at the demon in front of him. Everyone looked towards the center as the creature screeched furiously. It raised a thickly clawed fist into the air before shoving it into the center of the glass, the roof beneath us trembling. Everyone grew silent, Aaron's eyes wide.

The roof crackled like lightening, spiderweb looking cracks appearing in the glass where the demon had punctured it and spreading like wildfire.

"NO!" Jamie screamed, watching as the ground disappeared underneath his Father. Jace shot Clary a look before turning a blazing glare towards the demon. Bravely, Jace gripped his Seraph blade with one hand, and the demon's throat with the other.

"If I go down, you're coming with me." He growled.

The glass sank underneath them, crackling at least five feet in diameter and falling to the ground. The shards looked like rain as they clattered into the room below. Jamie rushed over, careful not to fall into the hole created as he watched his Father fall into a dark room, a mass of demons accompanying him. Jace was on his feet immediately, the demons circling him and growling, snapping their deadly teeth.

Once more, Jamie moved without thinking. He shoved past me, Clary screaming as we followed, leaving Darren and Aaron with the remaining soldiers. We were flying down flights of steps, tripping over each other and shoving our way through the depleting sea of demons. The only positive aspect of tonight seemed to be that with the werewolves as our allies, we could take on almost anyone.

Jamie was rounding corner after corner, and I wondered, not for the first time, where he'd learned such endurance. Looking behind me, I saw Anastasia, a large cut lining her collarbone, her newly cropped hair frizzed and disoriented. She had a wild look about her that made her seem like a ticking time bomb. Lucy had a broken ankle, and Heaven was having a hard time carrying her on her back, although she showed no readiness to quit or leave her behind. I pushed forward, ignoring the burn in my shoulder and the swaying of the room. If I wanted to be one of them, I needed to act like it.

We were taken to a greenhouse, one eerily similar to the Institute's. I looked up the staircase ahead of us, plants dancing all along the steps like decorations. Jamie slid across the stone floor, facing the archway. It was made of glass, a large black staircase leading up to it's entrance. Jamie started on the stairs, slicing through the Soldiers that waited for us there. They knew we'd be coming.

"Dad!" Jamie called, cutting down a Soldier and looking over the crowd. Jace looked badly beat up, his blonde hair hanging messily over one eye, which looked like it was starting to swell shut. Blood covered his left arm, and I was almost positive he was limping, but the fire in his eyes had not dulled. He was outmatched a dozen to one, and he had still refused to give up.

That, kids, is what you call a genuine Bad Ass.

Jace looked fearfully at Clary, knowing full well we wouldn't be able to take them all on even if we ran into the greenhouse after him. He had opened a portal, and was kicking in demon after demon, Soldier after Soldier, trying to send them directly from whence they came. But it could only buy him so much time. Until the Portal closed, no one would be safe, and he knew that. We had to buy time.

"Don't!" Jamie commanded as Jace eyed the wide double doors. He sprinted towards them, Jamie only a few feet away as Jace threw a Seraph blade towards the chandelier hanging in the archway. It crashed to the ground, blocking Jamie's entrance, and Jace kicked the doors shut, sealing himself in with the horde of monsters. "NO!"

Jamie began moving quicker than I'd ever seen him, every muscle in his body tensed as he flicked Ezekial like an extension of his own arm. Heaven leaned Lucy against the wall, kissing her on the forehead quickly before loading her cross bow. Darren was throwing himself against the door, the sound of Jace grunting and roaring behind it leaving us in a haze of desperation and curiosity. We couldn't stand it.

"Jace!" Clary screamed, beating on the heavy iron. "JACE OPEN THE DOOR!"

He answered with a scream, his body colliding with the metal on the opposite side. Clary flinched backwards, covering her mouth as tears slipped down her cheeks, her voice cracking as she screamed. Jamie was ramming the iron, his shoulder slamming against it repeatedly as Aaron beat at it with his ax. Heaven was shooting arrows all around the archway, hoping to weaken the structure as I slammed the bottom of Ember against the lock furiously, tears threatening to well up in my own eyes. I hit it, again, and again, and again, the sound of Jace's Seraph blades slicing through molten flesh sparking what little hope I had. He was still fighting. He could still make it. They didn't call him the Greatest for no reason, right? I was praying that he'd at least taken out half of the demons, managed to survive this long, but the desperation in my chest was too much to bear.

We could hear the slicing of bodies and flesh, the grunting and groaning of battle as we tried desperately to get to the man who was ready to sacrifice himself for us.

As the thought of Jamie being a partial orphan overwhelmed me, I cried out, sparks flying from the bottom of Ember as it struck the door once more. Fire erupted like a mini-explosion, the door flying off of the hinges. All of us fell onto the greenhouse floor, a smoke cloud clearing around us as we looked up.

Clary screeched. Stasi burst into tears immediately, Darren hissing in fury at the sight. Aaron wailed, burying his face in his hands. I couldn't breathe. For the first time in his life, Jamie was too frozen to move.


	20. Fall of the Fearless Angel

**Lorronzo- Gandalf Dies (Extended)**

* * *

Creto's General gave us a sick grin as he peered out from behind Jace's crop of blond hair. He stood behind him as Jace struggled to breathe. My eyes flickered downwards, my heart dropping into the pit of my stomach as I tried not to scream.

Protruding from the center of Jace's chest, glistening with his dark-red blood, was the blade of a foot-long Circassian dagger. The red liquid seeped along the metal, dripping and splattering to the floor like paint. Jamie grimaced as Creto began backing towards the Portal, still smiling lightly as he sank one foot in. Tearing the blade from Jace's back, Creto appraised us all with his dark eyes, his expression a mixture of pity and disgust as Jace's body hit the floor, unmoving.

"And so the Greatest has fallen," he said softly, staring at Jamie. "You're Father was a great man, boy. But this is not your fight to bear. You will lose. And you will die."

He slipped into the Portal, the light flickering upwards and sealing it shut, leaving us alone in the room.

"JACE!" Clary screeched, dropping to her knees next to him and pulling his head into her lap. "No, no, no, no, please, God no...God, Jace, please no...God no..."

"Even like this you're so beautiful," Jace murmured, coughing. "Shall I compare thee to a Summer's eve?"

"Don't you think it's my turn to quote some long begotten literature?" she teased, her tears slipping from her cheeks and onto his face. Jace made a mock grimace, staring into her eyes and clutching her hand in his.

"You were never good with books." he wheezed. Clary bit her lip, stroking his hair from his face.

"_When he shall die_," she began softly, kissing his forehead. "_Take him and cut him out into little stars and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun_."

Jace clenched his jaw, tears welling up in his eyes at the quote. Clary sobbed as he gripped onto her hand tighter, his breath becoming quieter and quieter until finally the angel reached the end of his descent.

Jamie was backed against the stone wall, his eyes horrified as he recoiled away from his Father's dead body. His breath was coming quick and shallow, his hands curling and uncurling into fists as he struggled for composure, unsure of what to do with himself.

Aaron and I turned towards the archway at the sound of footsteps, where the Shadowhunters stood silently on the stone, all of them as horrified and as shocked as we were.

"No," Luke whispered, shaking his head. "God, no...no..." He strode quickly to Clary's side, clutching her in his arms as she sobbed, tears washing over his own face. "God, no...oh God, no..." Pain filled the air. It was the first dead angel I've ever seen.

My shoulder blazed, the pain stretching all the way over my collar bone and through my chest. The room swayed again, my heart squeezing against my chest before I lurched forward, black blood pouring out from my mouth and splashing against the ground. I doubled over, Jamie running to my side and lifting me against him for support, holding my hair back as more of the liquid ripped from my lips. People were running, grabbing Aaron and Lucy and Clary and Jace and people were screaming and crying and there was so much noise that my head pounded.

"Hazel?" Jamie said, his voice fuzzy. My eyes were growing unfocused, my vision blurry as I swept my eyes over the broken glass in the ceiling. The world went black.

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Magnus asked, squeezing my hand gently as we sat quietly amongst the rest of the Shadowhunter population. I sighed, unsure of how to answer. Truthfully I was feeling worse than I ever had in my entire life, but the idea of sending everyone into an even greater sense of shock and panic revolted me so much that I opted to keep silent of the ever-growing poisonous rune on my shoulder.

"I'm alright. How are you?"

"I don't feel, remember?" Magnus asked, trying to lighten the mood with a sad smile. It didn't work.

"I don't believe that." I whispered. Magnus pulled away from me slightly.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"It's a Dispassionate rune, isn't it? I saw it in the Grey Book. It's supposed to make a person think stronger over their emotions. It doesn't take away feeling, it makes you think about it logically to lessen the blow. That rune is a lie."

"It's all I have to go off of," Magnus shot. "Unfortunately we weren't all born with stone walls built around our souls."

I looked at him for a moment, his expression softening immediately.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I just...I wish..."

"For all the suffering our people go through there should be a rune to fill the void of a lost one." I concluded for him. I knew all about Alec, Jamie's uncle who had died for Magnus in the Second Uprising. Magnus' lip quivered and he bit down on it.

"I didn't mean what I said."

"Yes you did," I said softly, staring ahead at the pile of Jace's bones on the pedestal above. "But it's alright."

"Perhaps showing a little emotion would benefit more than just you." Magnus murmured, his eyes flickering to Jamie, who stood stone-faced behind the stone table, watching as his father's body burned. I smoothed out the lap of my white dress, watching as Clary began to sob again next to her son.

"Showing emotion would not benefit me at all." I said hoarsely, watching the flames as they flickered wildly.

"Then don't do it for you," Magnus whispered into my ear, a tear sliding down his cheek. "Do it for Jamie."

* * *

**Inception Score-Time**

* * *

**~Clary POV~**

I tipped back the last of Jace's vodka stash, watching Hazel as she slept soundlessly on the couch in the Common Room. Although I had already made up my mind about what needed to be done, the realization of it hadn't hit me until now. It hadn't hit me when Jace was lying dead in my arms. It hadn't hit me when I saw Hazel doubled over in the greenhouse. It hadn't hit me when I found Jamie sleeping, his cheeks red and tear-stained in the training room where he'd spent hours with his father, or when I laid the letter I'd written next to him so that he'd find it when he woke. No, it hadn't hit me until this exact moment, the Mortal Cup weighing heavily in my left hand. I turned it over, watching the golden rim glitter in the flames of the fireplace.

I hadn't slept since Jace died, which meant days, and the fact that I may never sleep again anyways was just another reason for my decision.

"What are you doing, Love?"

My eyes flickered to Jace as he leaned against the fireplace mantle, his arms crossed over his chest. I'd been hallucinating about him since they took his body from me, his figure shimmering in every empty corner and silent room available. I was losing my mind.

"This isn't what Jamie would want." he said softly.

"You're right," I whispered, my voice raspy. "It's what he needs."

"He can't handle this."

"No, Jace. _I _cannot handle this. Don't you see this? There's no life for me here anymore."

"There's Jamie."

"And I love him. God and the heavens and the Earth know I love my son. _But I cannot live without you._.." And Jace knew this was true, in life and in death. Perhaps it was the curse of Rogziel, playing tricks on our minds and our hearts and creating such a deep infatuation that we could not breathe if the other was not breathing too, but whatever it was, it was very, very real. "Just like he cannot live if she dies."

"It isn't your job to save her."

"I'm not saving her. I'm saving him, keeping her alive is just the only way to do it."

I pulled my stele from my boot, carving a Silencing rune into my left upper arm, wincing as the burn filled me with a welcomed numbness. Slipping Jace's dagger from the table, I drew a thick, long line against my palm, red staining the skin like a blooming rose as I did. I allowed the heavy liquid to drip into the Mortal Cup, watching as it nearly filled to a fourth, forming an Angelic rune in the center.

_Beautiful._ I thought darkly. I picked up the dark blue vile of liquid I'd swiped from Ms. Etta's potions cabinet and stood from my chair, crouching down next to Hazel on the couch.

As gently as I could, I pulled the tip of the dagger across her palm, watching as her nearly black blood was released into the open. She stirred, the rune on her back coming into view as she shifted. Just binding her blood to my own would probably kill me, but that wouldn't have been enough to save her. Not for this particular rune. It was ghastly, a dark magic that only the most corrupted were stupid or brave enough to use.

_Take care of my son._ I thought softly, staring at her brown, innocent face. I pulled her chin down gently, opening her mouth so that I could press the Mortal Cup to her lips and tilt it back. My blood spilled into her mouth, some of it leaking down her cheek as she gulped, shifting again in her sleep. The rune on her back began to sizzle. I didn't have much time.

I turned the dark blue vial over in my other hand bitterly, popping off the cork.

"Poison," Jace murmured. "You were always so smart, Clary."

I tipped back the contents of the vial, the poison burning my throat on contact. Children of Heavenly Fire were only supposed to be legend, but I knew enough about Hazel to understand that my body had something her body needed, and that upon contact I would be put into such intense pain that even the Silencing rune would have a hard time keeping me quiet. I thought about Jamie and how he'd come home, both excited and frightened at the same time at her ability to burn into other people's blood to cleanse her own. Creto was right. She was a parasite.

A fearless, loving, sweet, hopeful parasite that I loved nearly as much as my own child, simply because he loved her. I took a deep breath, squeezing my eyes shut before placing my bloodied hand in hers.

Immediately, every muscle in our bodies tensed. Hazel knit her eyebrows together, frowning in her sleep as her hand gripped mine, nearly breaking a few of my fingers as her arm flexed. The pain was bewildering.

It was like being burned at the stake, the invisible flames licking up my arm so quickly you'd think my blood was gasoline. I dropped to my knees, the black blood underneath Hazel's skin rushing down her arm and towards mine. The vines were pulling away from her shoulder, speeding towards our intertwined hands as I opened my mouth with a silent scream.

The rune on her shoulder was sizzling. The bruises, extending all the way to the base of her spine, were receding quickly. Her back rose and fell with each breath like the tide, the bruising washing away like debris on the shore. I was sucking in breath after breath, clutching my throat as Hazel's poison, and Ms. Etta's, flooded my system, every bodily function flying into a panic and shutting down.

Hazel's shoulder was glowing a bright gold, the rune rising back to the surface of her skin. It was turning gold, flames licking underneath the scar as it disappeared, light shinig throughout the entire room. She was a beacon of hope. She was a fiery angel. She was killing me.

My entire forearm was black with poison, the liquid traveling through my shoulder and across my chest. I could feel it seeping through my bloodstream like ink, closing in on my airways and flooding my lungs. I hit the carpet on my side, Hazel's hand still gripping mine as I hyperventilated, watching her sleeping face as it shone warmly, my life illuminating her like a meteor. Tears soaked the carpet underneath my face as life began to leave me, Jace coming to my side. He laid on his side next to me, wrapping his arm around my torso and snuggling closely to my body like he had when he was living.

"I'm here, Love. You're almost done."

Breathing was unbelievably difficult, and so I stopped trying. I let the heaviness of the world overcome me, a million memories flashing through my mind all at once. The first time Jace ever put his lips on mine. The first time we'd made love, the wedding in the Accords Hall, the birth of my beautiful, flawless, brave, kind son. I loved him so much it made my faltering heart beat one last time. _I love you, _I had written several times in his letter. _I love you so, so much._ And this would be proof of that. They say a mother's love is unyielding, it does not have limits or boundaries, does not have conditions or requirements. It had a subject. A person in need of nurturing. It has a willingness to feed and care for and protect. It has a willingness to provide.

A willingness to sacrifice.


	21. Recovery

**Dumbledore's Farewell- Nicholas Hooper**

**Godric's Hollow Graveyard- Alexandre Desplat**

**The Resurrection Stone-Alexandre Desplat**

**Jamie POV~**

* * *

_Jameson Alexander Lightwood. _

_ I can't even begin to tell you how big of a fuss it was for your Father and I to pick out your name. Your little sister, her name was picked out before she was even born, but yours was a completely different story. I wanted something elegant, something charming and old-fashioned, like out of a romance novel._

_Your Dad wanted to name you Jace Jr._

_You're lucky I'm as stubborn as he is._

_We've arranged for Ella to be taken to Simon and Isabelle's for protection. It is not your responsibility to parent her, son, but help her to understand our decisions. She will know one day what we died for. _

_ I suppose telling you that I love you would be a tad redundant at the point in which you'll be reading this letter, but I will say it anyways in the event that it is not as crystal clear as I believe it to be._

_ I love you. More than Moon loves the company of the stars. I love you._

_ Although it's difficult for me to predict where you stand on my decision to sacrifice my life for Hazel's, I hope that one day you'll love someone enough to understand why I made my choice. I will explain it to you the best that I possibly can, starting with the obvious fact that your Father is the very essence of my heart and my soul. There will come a day where the walls you've guarded your heart with for years will crumble down into pleasant ash and be swept away by the exhilaration of falling in love with your soulmate. There is nothing like it on this planet. Love is the most illuminating, breath-taking, beautiful thing you will ever experience. It is also a fickle, destructive, terrifying concept, and I pray that although you understand the benefits of being with the one you love, you understand the Hell it put you through when you lose them._

_ The day your Father and I told you about the curse of Rogziel, it was not simply because we believed you to have a silly crush on a girl. It was because your Father and I both believe in the depths of our souls that if you are to fall in love, which you will at some point, it will be with her. It has always been her. Every fling, every quick and passionate fleeting moment with the dozens of girls you've never even bothered to bring home to us, was nothing compared to what you are about to feel. _

_ It will scare you._

_ And it will bring you to life._

_ This brings me to the second reasoning of my decision. I hope that you know in your heart that there is no one else I would rather you have at your side, because I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you. And you love her. _

_ Hazel is difficult, we can see that, but so are you. Even now, in the early month, it's been made plain and clear that the two of you share an attachment unknown to the others. The girl brings you to life in a way I've never seen. When she moves, you move. When she fights, you fight. Almost involuntarily, the both of you always wind up in the same place during battle. Why? Because you're drawn to her. You are the moth. She is the flame. And there is nothing you can do to stop it, even if you wished to. You are so much like your Father, so stubborn and closed-off, that it seems nearly impossible to the world for someone like you to truly, and deeply Love. I am here to tell you that it isn't impossible, and your Father and I are the very proof of that._

_ Your Father loved you, Jamie. More than anything. The hours spent in the training room, the repetitive drilling and shouting and tough attitude...it was all for you, Son. Your Father knew exactly what fate had in store for the next male in the Herondale bloodline and he prayed to spare you from it. He wanted nothing more than for you to be the best, not out of his own pride, but out of his fear for your safety. There is nothing you cannot overcome. Jace believed in you more than he's ever believed in himself, and through you he hoped to redeem himself of what he felt was a tarnished soul. There are many things your Father has told you, all of them true, but you cannot begin to understand the amount of torture he faced in his childhood. Greatness will always come at a price._

_ As will many other things in this life. Know this, and be brave. If you do not yet understand, there will come a day that you do. _

_I love you._

I propped my elbows up on my knees, the letter dangling from my fingertips in between my legs. I stared at the waxy paper, waiting for confetti or some sort of silly string to explode from the folds, telling me all of this was some sick, twisted prank and that my parents would burst into the training room at any moment.

No confetti came.

No silly string.

Everything was real.

I shoved the letter into the back of my jeans, jumping to my feet and jogging quickly out of the room. A thousand things were racing through my mind.

I was an orphan.

But I wasn't alone.

My parents were dead.

But they weren't gone.

I was wounded.

Yet I couldn't bring myself to cry.

I was knitting my eyebrows together, shoving through the large crowd of students as they made their way to class, staring at me with that pitying expression that made me want to vomit. I didn't need their sympathy. I needed them to move the Hell out of my way.

"Have you seen Hazel?" I asked, skidding to my feet right before ramming into Aaron's lumberjack frame. He frowned, pursing his lips before answering.

"Yep."

I waited for a moment, the both of us simply staring at each other.

"Well are you going to tell me where the fuck she's at?" I asked snappishly.

"OH! Oh God, yeah, sorry. She fell asleep in the Common Room last night. Your mom went in there to talk to her and make her feel better or something like that, that was the last time I saw her. Why? What's going on?" he asked. I thrust the letter into Aaron's hand before shoving past him, sprinting towards the Common Room.

By the time I'd made it to the second floor of the Institute, my legs burned, and I could hear shouting through the doors. I swung them open, Simon and Hazel standing face to face, tears streaming her face as they screamed at each other.

"-YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU HADN'T TOUCHED HER SHE WOULDN'T HA-"

"-DIDN'T KNOW! I DIDN'T KNOW I DIDN'T MEAN TO! I WASN'T TRYING TO DO ANYTHING I FELL ASLEEP AND THEN I WOKE UP AND SHE WAS-"

"-AT'S TWO PEOPLE, TWO THAT HAVE DIED SINCE YOU GOT HERE AND I-"

"Oh God, Jamie." Stasi cried, peering at me over the sofa. She was crouched over something I couldn't quite see in front of the fireplace. Shadowhunters of the Clave were inspecting the room, observing my Mother's body for any signs of struggle. A few of them glanced at me, their faces reddening at the awkwardness of the situation. "Jamie get out of here, you don't need to see this.

"Jamie!" Hazel sobbed, shaking her head. My eyes flickered to the thin line of dried blood running from the corner of her mouth to her chin. She was trembling uncontrollably, tears shimmering against her reddish brown cheeks. "God Jamie I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do it I swear to God I didn't mean to do it!"

"Haz-"

"Don't touch me!" she screamed, jumping away from my touch and knocking into the table as I reached for her. "Don't touch me! She touched me and I-God, Jamie, I killed her, I'm so sorry!" Hazel threw her hands in front of her as if to keep me away, turning her face so that I couldn't see her sob. Aaron exploded into the room moments later, his eyes wide and breath heavy, the paper clutched in one of his massive hands. He dropped to his knees next to Stasi, eying my Mother's gray corpse. Aaron buried his face in his hands, sniffling every few moments. Hazel sobbed again.

The sight of her like this sent chills up my spine, my stomach turning uneasily. I had been there when Hazel thought her adoptive parents were killed, and although she didn't seem to like her stepdad too much, I knew she loved Caroline- yet at the sight of their bloodstained room she had managed to keep herself in check and not shed a tear.

Now she was wailing, curled up on the table like some kind of broken, poisonous angel that would destroy everything she touched. She was crying. Freely, openly, publicly, all of her pride thrown out the window as she sobbed for _my parents. For me. _Some kind of feeling welled up inside the pit of my chest as I pushed her arms to the side, wrapping mine around her and pulling her to me. I wanted her near me. I wanted her to know she was safe. I wanted her to understand that none of this had been her fault.

"Stop," she slurred sleepily, sucking in heavy breaths and trying to push at my chest. "Stop!"

"Quit it." I ordered, holding her closer.

"She has to go," Simon barked, his face red. His curls lapped haphazardly over his forehead, his eyes bloodshot as though he'd been drinking all morning. "She has destroyed almost EVERYTHING we love in a matter of WEEKS and she needs to go before she can kill ANYBODY ELSE."

"Don't you ever in your life speak to her like that again." The words came out with a deadly resonance in them, a fatal undertone that allowed him to understand the subject was not debatable. "She's not leaving. No one is leaving, Simon. We're gonna figure this out together, okay? As a family-"

"A FAMILY?" Simon cried, laughing humorously. "THIS IS NOT A FAMILY ANYMORE, JAMIE. THIS IS A DISASTER. SHE MURDERED YOUR MOTHER AND YOUR CODDLING HER LIKE A BABY-"

"She did not murder Clary!" Aaron screamed, his eyes angry and defensive as he stared up at Simon. "She did not murder her! It was Clary's decision! It was a suicide!"

"Oh shut up Aaron," Darren growled, shaking his head in disgust. "We get it, you want to believe the best in everyone but you can't defend this kind of shit. The Clave is gonna rip Hazel apart for this."

"I have proof," Aaron said, standing and holding out the letter. "I have proof and they'll believe us."

"There was no way Hazel could have killed her," Heaven said softly next to Darren. "Luke was the one who'd found them this morning. He said he went to go check on Hazel and saw Clary laying on the floor like she was made of led. He tried to wake her up for at least half an hour. The Clave's already been notified, for your information." She shot at Darren, who looked down at his feet sheepishly.

"And what did Byron have to say about this?" Simon demanded.

"Ms. Etta's already inspected every inch of Hazel," Isabelle cried. "The rune is completely healed, Simon, the only way it could've been removed is by a willing sacrifice, you said it yourself."

"We're taking her to Alicante tomorrow," I said firmly. "She needs to be seen by the Counsil before we can officially clear her name. We need a plan, we need to be productive. Sitting here and wallowing in our own angry tears won't do their deaths any justice. Creto is the one who caused this. Not my Mother, not my Father, not Hazel. Creto. He's the one we should be going after." Everyone was watching as a few Shadowhunters heaved up my Mother's body. Her stele dropped from her icy hands, her wedding ring slipping off of her shriveled finger and clattering to the ground. Simon made no hesitation in snatching both items up and shoving them into his pockets, arguing with a Shadowhunter as he refused to give them up.

"Let's get out of here." I murmured into Hazel's ear, her body stiffening next to me. Fear radiated from her like an odor as we walked out into the corridor. She was scared I'd kill her. And even stranger, she was scared I'd kill her, but followed me anyways. She thought she deserved to die. I scoffed to myself quietly, lacing my fingers in her limp ones and pulling her along quickly.

I didn't want anyone to see her. Not like this. I knew Hazel's pride was her greatest possession, rarely coming in second to anything else, and I didn't want her to be seen without it. She'd hate herself for it later. We jogged briskly up the marble stairs of the Astronomy Tower, Hazel tugging behind me sluggishly, her entire body exhausted. I wasn't quite sure what to say. What does one do to help those who are grieving? _Funny you ask that considering they were your parents and not hers, _I thought darkly to myself. I knew it was true. Hazel was taking the loss of my parents much worse than I was.

I pushed open the wide oak door of my bedroom, sunlight washing over my face as I led her into my room. No girl had ever been in my room. That was a rule of mine, or at least a rule of men like me. I went to women's rooms. They never came to mine. It was too personal, my space too vulnerable. There were things in here they'd want to touch and learn about and talk about, and that meant intimacy. Intimacy wasn't what I'd wanted. Not with them, at least.

Hazel's hand fell out of mine, her gasp filling the air, and as I turned back to see what had stopped her, I began to wish I'd never brought her up there it all.

"Is that me?" she whispered, her eyebrows knit together as she stared at my wall. Damn. God, what was I thinking?

"I...Uhm, I mean, I just...I..."

"These are all me," she confirmed, walking towards the wall and grazing her fingers over the dozens of papers I'd taped up haphazardly. "All of them." She stood back, an ant compared to the large wall in front of her. Her face, in a dozen different expressions, stared back at her, all matched to perfect likeness.

"I could never get your eyes right," I admitted, throwing my dignity to the ground. For the first time in my life, I was truly and utterly embarrassed. "I just..."

"Why did you draw me so many times?"

"I wanted to remember your face." I shrugged honestly, watching her. "I never know which time will be the last I ever see it."

Hazel turned to me. She looked unbelievably vibrant for someone who'd spent the last week deteriorating, and all morning bawling. Her skin glowed a warm honey color, her cheeks flushed red and stained with crispy, gleaming tears. Her small lips were swollen, Her eyes back to their usual hazel appearance.

"That's exactly what I mean," I murmured, studying them as I walked towards her. "Your eyes aren't made for a picture. They're always moving, they're always changing. They speak for you. You can't capture that in a drawing."

"I killed your mother." she shot hoarsely, the words meant to stab at me. They didn't. I didn't care if it was denial. I didn't care if it was Rogziel's curse. I was fully convinced in my soul that nothing Hazel did could be wrong. She just wasn't that kind of person.

"She left me a letter." I whispered.

"Why would she leave you a letter?"

"Weren't you listening? It was a suicide. A sacrifice. She made her own decision."

"Why?"

"Because she loved my Dad too much to be without him. It just made sense to do a good deed on her way out."

"You're taking this too well."

"That's not true," I sighed as she pulled away from me. "Shadowhunters die and go missing all the time-"

"You say that at least once a day." she fired.

"Because it's true. Our people are used to this," I shrugged, sitting on the side of my bed. "In a week, everyone will be back to themselves."

"Simon won't."

"Simon was my Mom's best friend since they were in kindergarten. Let us not forget he was born a Mundane. He isn't accustomed to this, even though he's had his fair share of losses. Simon will be fine, with time."

"This is all my fault." she croaked, tears slipping down her cheeks again. I reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards me. Obediently, she fell into my lap, allowing me to wrap an arm around her shoulders and rest my chin on her head.

"I don't understand," I whispered. "You didn't cry for Caroline. Why do you cry for Clary?"

Hazel went rigid at the question, looking up for me with a loss for words.

"I mean it. You kept yourself well in check. Now, it's just...now..."

"The idea of taking someone you love rips me a part," she said softly, looking away from me. "I would never in my life want to hurt you like this, even if you do hate me."

"Hate you? Why would you think I hate you?"

"We aren't exactly best friends."

"We aren't exactly enemies, either."

"You tried to choke me."

"Still shootin that dead horse, huh?"

"You snuck into my bedroom."

"You interrupted my shower."

"That isn't fair, considering it saved you a lifetime of jokes from all of your peers."

"Are you assuming I'd be embarrassed to be caught sharing a shower with you? Because I most definitely would not."

"I'm assuming that you have every right to dislike me."

"Well, I don't."

"Then why didn't you want me to be your parabatai?" she demanded, raising an eyebrow. I pressed my lips into a thin line.

I wasn't ready to have this conversation yet.

"You're one of the few girls I know who looks pretty when they cry." I diverted.

"No one looks pretty when they cry."

"You do."

"I really am sorry, Jamie...I am so, so sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. My Mom knew exactly what she was doing."

"You smell nice." she murmured, her face buried into my chest.

"Well, that's what happens when you take showers," I teased, quoting her. "You should try it sometime. You know, soap. Water. Scrubbing."

"Naked." she said quietly. Her voice had taken on a sultry, unintentional undertone, and it made the tips of my fingers tingle.

Hazel. Naked.

I quickly pushed her off of my lap, afraid she'd soon be well aware of the kinds of thoughts I was having if she stayed in the same position any longer.

"You should take one, really." I said quietly. "It might make you feel better."

"Alright." she stretched, heading towards my bathroom.

"Hazel?" I called. She turned, watching me as I thought over my words. "Everything is gonna be okay." She nodded, giving a small smile before disappearing into the bathroom.

I hadn't meant to lie to her. If I had known what was coming, I would've never touched her in the first place.


	22. Hot

**S/O to KIARAwas here, Anita Watene, TheDauntlessNephillimTribute, and Magical Unicorn for all giving me such great reviews! You guys are the main reasons I keep writing and I wish more people would leave reviews like you do. Hope you like the new chapter!**

**Brain Stew-Green Day**

**~Hazel POV~**

* * *

"I can't breathe."

"I know," Jamie murmured softly. "Concentrate. I want you to focus."

"Jamie..."

"Hazel you're stronger than this, don't wuss out now."

I kept my eyes squeezed shut, the flames that had sprouted at my feet now licking my knee caps hungrily, eating up at the fabric of my jeans. We'd been at it for days, the constant training, constant moving, constant bursting into fucking flames.

I was tired of it. The use of my power drained me, made me feel like I'd gone days without sleep if I wasn't careful, but Jamie was insistent that I was stronger than I thought I was and that there was always another goal to reach, another level to accomplish.

My fists stayed clenched to my side, a bead of sweat rolling over my collar bone as I struggled to contain the flames. I clenched my teeth, wincing slightly as the flames jumped higher, my thighs tightening.

"Calm down, calm down." Jamie said quickly, his voice firm and somewhat worrisome.

"Keep going Haze, you're doing just fine." Lucy reassured in the background.

"GUYS WE HAVE A PROBLEM." Stasi exploded into the room and my eyes snapped open, the flames bursting from my skin in a 7 foot tall arc, blazing wildly in front of me. Jamie leaped backwards, knocking over a few chairs as a punching bag in the Training Room corner sizzled and dropped to the floor, it's hook turning into liquid, metal now dripping onto the floor.

The force of the fire knocked me onto my back, my shoulders connecting with the concrete as the flames were sucked back into the pores of my skin as quickly as they'd escaped. My chest heaved as I fought to catch my breath, Lucy fussing over her singed bangs as Aaron stared at me wide-eyed.

"Wow." Stasi murmured.

"We are never fucking doing that again."

"Oh give it a rest, Darren," she chided. "Don't be mad just because your body doesn't do anything special."

"Anything for you Cupcake. And for the record, my body is plenty special." He winked at her and Stasi grimaced, rolling her eyes and scraping a chair towards us.

"May I ask what the Hell you had to interrupt our training for?" Jamie demanded, still sitting on the floor. Aaron's jaw dropped at the sight of Jamie's boot, which was on fire, and tried to subtly tap out the flames with shoe.

Subtlety was not Aaron's strong-suit, and after the few first taps he resorted to full-blown stomping, Jamie swatting at him irritatedly.

"Will you circus clowns cut it out?" Stasi snapped, plopping down onto the chair. Heaven pulled me into a sitting position, brushing the dust off my shoulder.

"You alright?" she whispered. I nodded. "Good, then you deserve this." She swatted at the back of my head and I chuckled, pushing her away playfully.

"So what is it then, what's wrong?" Aaron asked boredly, rubbing his shoulder where Jamie had punched him.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, right? Well first of all we can't just hide out in the Institute forever. The Purified Ones have made it clear-"

"Wait, hold on," Aaron interrupted. "Purified Ones is such a mouthful. Can we please call them something else?"

"You're joking, right?"

"Oh God, please can we call them DeathEaters?" I asked quickly. Everyone in the room gave me a look.

"DeathEaters?" Lucy grimaced. "They're morbid enough as it is, don't you think?"

"No, you know, like from Harry Potter."

"Who?"

"You..." I stared at all of them. "Come on, Harry Potter? You've never heard of Harry Potter? Like, best series of all time, J.K. Rowling, boy wizard?"

"Is she talking about a warlock?" Aaron whispered to Stasi, who shrugged and made a face.

"Hermione, Ron, lightening bolt scar? The guy with no nose?"

"I can't deal with you right now," Darren said flatly, turning back to Stasi. "The last time I saw someone who didn't have a nose, I'd been the one who cut it off."

"This is what happens when you live like a Mundane." Aaron said matter of factually. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh shut up Aaron, you don't even know half about _our _world." Darren shot.

"Don't be such a diva." Aaron mocked.

"ANYWAYS..." Stasi said loudly.

"NO! This is a serious issue and we need to solve it NOW." Aaron demanded, crossing his arms and sticking his nose in the air. Jamie put his face in his hands to hide his laughter, but the cover up was a poor one and Stasi promptly smacked him on top of the head with the book she'd carried in.

"Alright, alright," Jamie said, still grinning as he took in a deep breath. "Uhm, well they're the opposites of us, right?"

"Obviously we're the good guys." Darren added quickly.

"Right, right, we're the good guys, and we're Nephilim. We're the Shadowhunters."

"If we're the hunters then they're the shadows." I concluded, smiling. Jamie grinned at me and raised an eyebrow at everyone.

"FINE, they're the Shadows. Anyways, like I was saying, we can't just sit on our asses for the rest of our lives. They're going to come back for Hazel eventually, so there's only one thing we can do."

"Best defense is a good offense." Jamie interjected. Stasi nodded and flipped open her book,thumbing through the thick old pages.

"First of all, I learned that the Purified Ones... I'm sorry, _Shadow Coven,_ aren't the sort of Coven you'd expect them to be. Other cultures are stricter, more tightly bound, but the way Creto lets his men roam around on their down time is absurd. They should be kept in some kind of Institution or safe house, wouldn't you think?

"Wait, what? You've seen one of them?" Darren asked sharply. Anastasia bit her lip, a thousand excuses running through her mind at once.

"Yes," she answered finally, looking up at me. "I was just walking to Taki's, I wanted some hot chocolate and I-"

"Why would you go to Taki's by yourself?" Aaron asked. I nudged him sharply with my elbow. "What? She could've just had Ms. Etta make her so-"

"I was with her," I sang out loudly, the words pouring out before I could stop them. Jamie shot me a look, one eyebrow raised. "Alright, fine, we were skipping training. We wanted some sweets and we didn't want Ms. Etta to scold us about where we needed to be so we ditched," I hurried as Stasi watched me gratefully. The truth was, she'd been out to meet Thomas, but if she spilled the beans now, Darren would probably stab her.

"So we're in the middle of this diner and there's all sorts of Downworlders and Nephilim everywhere, right? And then in walks this guy. He's got no scent, no weapons, no nothing." she added.

"How'd you know he was a Shadow?" Jamie asked suspiciously.

"His brand," she said quickly, flipping through more pages before turning the book so that we could see it. There was a picture of Creto's insignia, two back-to-back C's with a bloody, burning dagger cutting vertically through the middle of them. "This was on his chest, like right under his neck and he saw me looking at it. I think he recognized me."

"And he didn't attack you?"

"Are you kidding? Everyone downtown loves me, Downworlder or not," she flipped her collarbone-length hair, frowning as it didn't flop the way it used to before she had cut it off. "Anyways, they would've beat the Hell out of him if he even tried. So he bailed, and quick. I followed him."

"Where'd he go?"

"That's the crazy part. He went to Glimmer, of all places."

"A nightclub?" Aaron wrinkled his nose.

"I know, right? How are you supposed to dance in those combat boots? And I've seen his legs, those things are way too thick to be squatting on a dance floor, which let me tell you is a lot more difficult than you'd think, did you know that-"

"Anastasia," Heaven shot. "Breathe!" Stasi rolled her eyes and sucked in a deep breath.

"So I go into Glimmer, and I've completely lost the guy, right? But I find one of Luke' pack boys there. His name is uhm, damn, what is it...Evan, yeah! It was Evan, Evan Michaels, the cute one with the blonde hair-"

"Johanna's brother?" Aaron piped up quickly. I raised my eyebrows at him, and he blushed.

"Yeah, the one with the pretty green eyes and mega-watt smile." Stasi said slyly.

"And fat ass. Don't forget about that beautiful fat ass."

"Shut up Darren." I quipped.

"Are you mad because I've got a nicer butt than you do?"

"No one has a nicer butt than Hazel." Jamie said pointedly, shrugging. Lucy pursed her lips and nodded in agreement

"I'm cuter." her brother snapped.

"Come on, Darren," I teased, allowing a few flames to flicker across my raised fingertips. "We all know I'm _much _hotter than you."

"I think you overestimate yourself."

"You wanna try me?" I whispered, wiggling my fiery hand at him.

"Will you two quit flirting and listen?" Jamie snapped. Darren just leaned back against a stack of the training mats and folded his hands behind his head, grinning. I rolled my eyes, sighing before Stasi continued.

"Anyways I was talking to Evan and he said some of those guys come in there every now and again, and a few of them even had to get taken out for being drunk off their asses. The main thing was that Creto's general guy, whatever his name is, he goes in there every Tuesday ad Friday night."

"For what? He doesn't exactly look like the twerking type." I laughed.

"What's twerking?" Aaron asked.

"That's the problem, I have no idea. Evan says it's not always just to stop by for a drink, most of the time he shows up, goes into one of the V.I.P back rooms and then comes out an hour later either looking really, really happy or really, really pissed."

"We gotta find out what he's going there for and who's making deals with him," I said firmly, crossing my legs underneath me. "There's no way he'd risk going into public like that unless it was really important."

"I know I was the one who brought it up, but maybe it isn't such a good idea just yet. Maybe we should tell Simon."

"Simon still wants to choke me. I'm not asking him anything."

"Well Jamie _did _choke you, and you two are best friends now. Maybe it's best to let Simon just have a go at-"

"I'll choke my foot up your ass if you don't shut up, Darren." Jamie said flatly, trying not to smile.

"We have to go," I said stubbornly. "We don't know how much time we have, if any."

"I don't wanna go either," Lucy said quickly. "Last time we went on a little adventure, I broke the Hell out of my ankle. It took Ms. Etta a day and a half to heal it."

"Let's vote, then." Heaven shrugged, biting her lip. "All in favor of going?"

Jamie, Daren, Aaron and I all raised our hands, followed by a sheepish Heaven, who shot Lucy an apologetic look.

"It's settled then!" Jamie cheered, hopping to his feet. "Hope nobody's afraid of large crowds."


	23. Glimmer

"This was an awful idea."

The seven of us stared up at the large black metal building that pulsated with purple light, the music blaring from the inside. _Glimmer _blazed in flashing white and pink lights. A line wrapped itself around the block, full of people who were ready to get in.

"The last time you asked me to go to a party, we ended up with Hazel." Stasi said flatly, shooting Jamie a look. She'd trimmed her hair into a bob, the black shadow over her eyes giving her dark iris's a heavy stare. I wiped a smudge of red lipstick from the corner of her mouth roughly, nudging her.

"What's so wrong with me?"

"Nothing's wrong with you," Jamie interrupted, more to spite Stasi than to compliment me. "You look good, by the way." he cleared his throat awkwardly, running a hand through his bronze hair. Aaron kicked the back of my knee, my leg buckling underneath me.

"A little weak in the knees, are we?" He grinned slyly, breezing past me.

"Can it, Aaron."

"Not his fault you get all wobbly around me." Jamie whispered into my ear, chills running down my spine as he followed his friend towards the club.

Stasi was raising an eyebrow at me when I turned to face her. I rolled my eyes, giving her the hand and turning away.

"Admitting that you like him would be a lot easier than keeping up with all this witty banter." she grinned, looping her arm in mine. The leather on her black jacket brushed against my own, and I eyed the racy dress she'd chosen to wear.

"Putting on clothes would be a lot easier than constantly having to explain to people that you're not a hooker."

"Ouch! I think you're bitter because Jamie made you put on a shirt."

"He didn't MAKE me do anything-"

"Oh please, you were practically wearing a sports bra and he flipped a shit."

"That does not qualify as flipping a shit."

"He literally tore everything out of my closet and threw it on the floor for you to choose from."

"He said it would be distracting to the purpose of the mission."

"Ahuh, but distracting to who?"

"Whatever," I grumbled, falling in step behind Heaven and the twins. "He's too controlling."

"He_ is_ controlling," Stasi agreed, leaning against the wall of the building as we waited in line. "But you allow him to be."

She looked at me with her eyebrows raised again, pressing her lips into a tight line for a moment before adjusting my jacket.

"You still look fantastic, it doesn't matter."

I hoped she was right. I'd chosen a cropped blouse that landed just over my bellybutton, a pair of black skinny jeans with laces instead of a zipper, and combat boots.

"How exactly do you plan to fight in those?" I asked, eying Stasi's Jimmy Choo's. She rolled her eyes.

"First of all, I stole these from YOUR luggage, look familiar? Second of all, we're not supposed to look like we're ready to fight. You should unzip your jacket. It'd look sexier."

"I don't want to look sexy. I want to kill the guy that murdered Jamie's parents."

"He's not taking it as well as he's pretending to," Heaven murmured, turning to face us as Lucy and Darren chatted away. "I can feel it, sort of. When he lost his parents it was a really low blow, he took it just as badly as someone would take physical pain. He's okay, you know? He's functioning, but he's hurting. And he's angry, God he's angry."

"Anger is a good thing, isn't it? It'll help him fight."

"Not exactly," Stasi shook her head. "It's a stage of grieving and he needs to go through it, but Jamie's not like the rest of us."

"What are you talking about?"

"Jamie's...built different. He feels things differently. Sees things differently. He's a lot like his Dad was before he met Clary. Jamie was brought up just as strictly. Not as hard, he was never abused or anything, but his Dad loaded on the pressure like it was layers of clothing. Jamie's only ever had one goal in life and that's to become the greatest there ever was."

"We didn't even know he actually liked us until he asked to be my _parabatai..._" Heaven said sullenly, giving a sad shrug. I knit my eyebrows together.

"What are you talking about? Jamie loves you."

"Yeah, we know that _now_," Stasi grumbled. "I practically grew up with the kid and if there's one thing I know about Jamie it's that you'll never really know if you're important to him or not. It's like he cares about you, but if he has to choose between you and the world, he'll choose the world. He never really expressed that he cared about us until you showed up and started destroying everything he loved."

I shot her a look.

"Sorry, sorry, it was a joke. All I'm saying is that he doesn't put much value in people."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because I know him."

I pondered this for a second, sneaking a glance at the bronze-haired boy a few people ahead of me. His perfect teeth were glittering in the purple light, his laugh echoing through the air as he and Aaron joked with each other.

"You make him sound so..."

"Cold." Stasi finished. I pursed my lips. "He thinks with his head and not his heart but all that emotion is getting pent up inside of him, I know it. Jamie scares me sometimes, he's a ticking time bomb. Jamie was gifted with the ability to sort through what's good and what's necessary. Sometimes the right thing isn't the easiest. He knows that, and that's why one day he'll be the best of our kind. He's strong enough to make the choices that nobody else can."

"Youuuuuu on the other hand," Heaven laughed. "You're like a foreign language to the kid."

"I am not!"

"Are too, you're complete opposites."

"I can be strong." I pouted, crossing my arms. Heaven and Stasi exchanged looks. "I _can_ be!"

"We don't doubt it. When you HAVE to, you can turn off your emotions and think coldly. But, ninety-nine percent of the time, you act on how you feel. And you feel EVERYTHING."

My jaw almost hit the ground. I had spent my entire life trying to build the illusion that I did not feel, did not care, did not want for anything, and here were these people, not strangers by any means but not old friends either, explaining me like I had come with written instructions. Thinking about it, I supposed it was true. I was, in fact, an emotional person. Emotion had driven me to follow Jamie into the Accords Hall. Anger had driven me into following him to the Institute. Desperation had driven me to shove my flaming fist into a full tub of witch hazel. And the need for revenge had driven me to Glimmer.

I, Hazel Roberts, was a feeler. I shuddered and Stasi laughed at me.

"We can't wait in line all night," Aaron huffed, letting a few people pass him so that he and Jamie were now connected with the rest of our group. "There's got to be something we can do."

"They're not gonna cut us any slack, especially not since we're Nephilim. This is a Downworlder club."

"...Good thing we've got a Downworlder with us..." Lucy grinned, raising an eyebrow at me.

Everyone looked to me, and I raised my eyebrows, my jaw opening slightly.

"Are you kidding?"

"Just pull that blouse down a little and we're as good as gold." Darren smirked. Jamie swatted at him, shooting him a look. "What?! Since when are you ever concerned about the modesty of women?"

"I'm NOT, I just don't-"

"Look," Stasi said, turning me to face her. She unzipped my jacket slightly and tugged down my shirt, revealing slightly more cleavage than I usually dared show. I was by no means a conservative person, but seeing as Jamie was standing less than a foot away and his cheeks were turning bright red, my confidence level was in question. "All you have to do is bat those pretty eyelashes and stand there long enough for the guy to catch your scent."

"Won't he smell Nathaniel's blood, too?"

"We couldn't when we first found you, and we can't now. Hopefully it won't be any different for him. Besides, angel blood is dominant but demon blood is pretty potent stuff. It's thicker, and darker, kinda smells funny..."

"THANK YOU, Aaron." I interrupted, shoving my hand in his face.

They pushed me out of the line and I took a deep breath, wriggling my hips a little bit to get more comfortable in my jeans. _It's just a man,_ I thought to myself cooly, sashaying up the side of the line. _Just another dumb, barbaric, simple-minded man._ The bouncer raised an eyebrow at me as I approached him, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

"Excuse me," I said sweetly, my voice dripping with honey. "How much longer do you think it will be?"

"That depends babygirl," he grinned, revealing a set of thick fangs. "How bad do you wanna get in?"

"Name your price." I whispered, trying to swallow the bile rising in my throat. I'd been put in this type of situation before and regrettably hadn't made the best decisions. I didn't want to relive it now.

"For a pretty girl like you, I won't ask for money."

"What are you asking for, then?"

"What are you offering?" he said slyly, a pair of tall, bone-thin women in thigh-high boots and skimpy lingerie trotting in without a word to the man. Ideas sprang forth like daisies in May.

"A dance," I said quickly. "I was looking to apply for a job here so I wanted to feel the place out. You let me and my friends in, and you get to see me dance."

"What kind of dance?"

"The kind that won't involve much clothing." I murmured, trying not to croak. Do not feel. Do not feel. You are robotic. This is a job. A mission. You're strong. You can do this. Be like Jamie.

"How could I refuse such an offer?" He asked excitedly, holding the door wide open. I looked past the line, waving my team forward.

"Just remember your reward and keep a smile on that pretty face." I ordered sweetly, patting his cheek before following everyone inside.

Red, blue, green, pink, purple, yellow, white. That was all I saw as I walked across the glowing floor, pushing past the strings of sparkly tinsel hanging from the ceiling as lights flashed all across the club. The entrance lead to a large balcony that overlooked a crowded, massive dance floor- werewolves and faeries and vampires alike all writhing and thrusting against each other. A black, glittering chandelier hung above the floor, dripping silvery metal liquid.

"It's a faerie drug, I don't recommend you take it." Jamie murmured into my ear, brushing his hand against my back. I nodded at him, our gaze holding a moment too long before we both drug our eyes away.

I leaned against the railing of the banister next to Darren, who's eyes were locked on the stage ahead. Nymphs, all with long, flowing, shiny hair and brilliantly white smiles were serving cocktail drinks amongst the tables that sat on a platform a few feet taller than the dance floor.

"There."

We all followed his gaze to a tall, burly man who was shoving through the crowd, his cropped hair gleaming white in the flashing streams of light. It was Creto's general, following an extremely tall, dark haired woman through the bodies. She pulled back one of the many of the dark purple curtains that clung tightly to the wall in the shadows, revealing a small booth built in to the metal wall. The woman peered to her left and right as the General quickly entered, and she let the curtain fall behind her, hiding him from sight. There had been a boy with him, about six foot three with lean, elegant shoulders and a long but muscular body. He stood firmly in front of the curtain, a large, gleaming sword hanging from his belt. I couldn't make out much detail looking at him aside from his brown, creamy skin and dark brown curly hair.

"I say we kick his ass right here, right now." Darren shot, turning to the rest of the group. Heaven shook her head furiously.

"Too many people. The security would kick us out in seconds, and the General would alert the rest of the Shadows before we had a chance to blink."

"What about his body guard?" Stasi asked, glancing at him.

"If we go get him, you and Hazel can wait for us on the floor, make sure no funny business goes on. Watch our backs."

"We need to grab him with making a sound or he'll alert the General," Jamie decided. "We should be able to get something out of him."

"What makes you think he'll talk?" I challenged. Jamie raised his eyebrows and closed the distance between us, looking down on me as he flicked a switch blade dangerously close to my face, the tip of it brushing against my jaw.

"Wouldn't you?"

I held his gaze evenly, refusing to back down until Aaron and Heaven started making their way down the stairs, Heaven grabbing Jamie's arm and pulling away from me. He didn't stop staring until they were making their way down the steps. Stasi's words echoed in my mind as she watched me. _He is a ticking time bomb._

Sucking in a deep breath, I followed Stasi to the opposite staircase, this one hugging tightly to the right side of the room while the other clung to the left. Stasi tugged down the sleeves of her jacket, covering her runes as much as she could. For the first time in her life, he looked somewhat insecure.

"It'll be bad enough that the three of them are trying to jump some random guy, we don't need to tip off security that we're Nephilim."

"Can you see them?" I asked, patrolling the sea of bodies. Stasi craned her neck, being jostled amongst the limbs until a pair of hands clutched her soldiers. She whirled around, her hand raised to strike before she breathed a sigh of relief at the blue eyes watching her.

"Thomas!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him awkwardly and clinging to his body. The tall blonde-haired boy buried his face into her neck, stepping back to get a good look at her.

"You cut your hair!" he grinned, twirling a lock in his fingers. Stasi nodded, looking at the floor sheepishly. "I really like it. I do. Come on, I can't breathe in here."

He grabbed her hand and she grabbed mine, the three of us stopping to rest by the side of the raised stage. My eyes wandered around the feet of the dining Downworlders, giving a grimace when I saw that one man in particular, with green, scaly toes and talons, had opted to go barefoot.

"I miss you like crazy, you have no idea."

"No, YOU have no idea," Stasi smiled. "You're always on my mind and I-"

"No, you're always on MY mind and-"

I tuned them out, my stomach flipping as I watched Aaron, Darren, and Jamie begin to separate themselves from the sea of dancing bodies. Heaven and Lucy pressed themselves around the corner of the Shadow bodyguard, keeping themselves in the dark until Jamie gave a signal. The bodyguard immediately went rigid at the sight of the three boys, Jamie's face falling.

Something was wrong.

"Stasi," I hissed, tugging at her shirt. She was oogling Thomas, the both of them making kissy faces and weird noises to each other as I smacked her on the side. "Something's wrong! ANASTASIA!"

"WHAT?!" She spat, turning to me.

"Something's wrong!"

She followed my gaze to the three boys and bodyguard, all who were staring at each other tensely. Stasi's face fell.

"Oh, no. He can see them."

"What are you talking about, we can all see them?"

"No, no, when Nephilim go hunting we sometimes put a glamour over ourselves. It means that Mundanes and some Downworlders can't see us, it always works but-" she looked up at the ceiling, still dripping with silver. I brushed a bit of it off of my shoulder. "I think the building's enchanted. Nobody can hide anything in here."

"What do we do?"

"They're gonna try to jump him. If they do that, they'll cause a scene."

As usual, she was right. Jamie sprang into action so quickly I almost blinked and missed it. He clasped a hand over the guard's mouth, Aaron and Darren wrestling him to the ground. He was lean, but strong, and he writhed ferociously against their hold as they shoved him to the ground, landing in a heap. Jamie looked up at us desperately, waving a hand to get our attention before pointing to the crowd and security.

"What's wrong? What does he need?!"

"He needs a distraction," Stasi hissed, looking around the room before her eyes landed on the stage. She turned back to me, appraising my body before pulling her iPod out of her pocket and handing it to Thomas. She demanded him to take it to the DJ before turning back to me. "Take off your clothes. Now."


	24. Strip

**Rihanna-Numb (When Thomas whistles)**

* * *

"Are you out of your damn mind?!" I hissed as Stasi pulled off her black stilettos and shoved them into my arms. I leaned against the side of the stage as she ripped off my combat boots, Thomas arguing with the DJ across the dance floor. "Why can't _you_ do this?!"

"Absolutely," Stasi breathed, taking one of the heels from my arms and fashioning it to my foot. "And_ I_ can't do this because I've got runes covering my entire body, they'll know we're Nephilim for sure and get more suspicious than ever. You however have that itty bitty, baby little thing inside your elbow that's barely visible."

"What about the one on my shoulder?!"

"It's gold, not black. It's weird and I've never seen one like that before but in these lights you can't even see it from the dance floor."

"Stasi I can't do this!" I panicked as she grabbed the other shoe.

"You're half black, I know you can dance."

"THIS IS NOT ABOUT DANCING! THIS IS ABOUT TAKING MY CLOTHES OFF IN FRONT OF STRANGERS!"

"Come on, don't tell me you've never thought about being a stripper at least once in your life." she paused, looking up at me skeptically.

I hesitated, wondering if it would be a good idea to tell her that I had in fact considered it when I found out I was failing eighth grade math.

But that was beside the point.

I sucked in a deep breath, watching Jamie and the others as they kept huddled in the shadows against the wall, still struggling to tie up the guard. They needed a distraction. So I needed to give them one.

"Be sexy. Whatever you do, be sexy."

"And if I'm not?"

"Be shocking."

_Shocking I most definitely can do._ I thought bitterly to myself. I took a deep breath and Stasi nodded at me approvingly, hope lighting her features as she pushed me up onto the stage. I stood, the couple of men dining at the closest table shooting me confused looks.

"Uhm..."

"Get their attention! All of them!" Stasi hissed. I clenched my jaw, frozen. _No, no, no, no, no...oh God..._I panicked. Stasi growled lowly before hitching herself up onto the stage and swiping a glass off of the table before ducking beneath it. The two men looked around, their eyebrows knit together as glass clattered to the wooden stage floor and shattered, the other diners turning their heads to the three of us.

Thomas whistled across the club, a new song blaring through the speakers. I groaned, taking a deep breath. I flashed my eyes at the gentleman in front of me, slowly making my way to their table before I leaned over, my cleavage only inches away from their faces as I pulled the shot glass out of one of the man's hand and downed it.

_Ecstasyyyyyyyy, in the air. _

The hard vodka burned at the back of my throat in satisfaction. I switched my hips, looking over my shoulder at him.

The man raised an eyebrow at me as I sauntered away from him seductively, trailing my fingertips across table after table, every one staring at me as I finally selected a table in the center of the room. I used a vampire's shoulder to steady me as I pulled myself on top of the table, kicking over his champagne glass as he bit his lip. _Cause I'm goin numb..._

Rolling my hips, I sank lower and lower until I was squatting, eye-to eye with the new man, my butt in the face of his friend as I undid the vampires tie and slid it slowly from around his neck. I got on my knees, holding his face in mine as I trailed my tongue up the side of his neck, his jaw clenching as he closed his eyes. I stood abruptly, smiling lightly at him as I started rolling my hips again, unzipping my jacket all the way down, my bellybutton exposed.

I jumped from the table, landing gracefully on the floor and letting the jacket slip from my shoulders, sashaying through the tables of onlookers once more. I twirled my fingers around the front laces of my blouse. I plopped onto another table in between a couple, crossing my legs and slowly tugging down the laces of the shirt, pulling it further and further open. I blew the woman a kiss before twirling through the tables again, this time choosing one at the front of the stage where everyone could see. I twirled right into the lap of a werewolf, who knit his eyebrows together at me as he studied my face.

Before he could recognize my mother in my features, I laid down on my back in his lap, dipping all the way down so that my hair ruffled against the stage. The entire world was upside down as I tugged my blouse over my head before snapping myself back into an upright position, my hair tumbling wildly across my shoulders as I grabbed the man by the jaw and brought myself dangerously close to his face. I teased at him, barely brushing my lips against his before hopping off of his lap, back on my feet.

I clicked the toe of the heels dramatically against the floor as I walked, some of the dance crowd stopping to watch me as I strutted across the stage, running my hands up my body and through my hair. Some of the cocktail waitresses had stopped and formed a line at the back of the stage, all of them dancing and rolling in sync to the music as if we were giving a live concert. I stood at the front of the stage, my eyes on the the crowd as I began rolling my hips again, undoing the lace of my jeans. _Cause I'm goin numb..._

Cue more hip rolling.

For the split second that I looked at the back of the club, it was hard not to burst out into laughter. Jamie's eyes were wide, his jaw dragging across the ground as his cheeks blazed. He nearly dropped the bodyguard all of them had been carrying, earning a swat from Heaven, which seemed to not phase him. Darren was literally drooling, and Jamie shoved at him, trying to cover his eyes. The both of them landed in a pile on top of the guard, Aaron and Lucy ripping them apart and standing them to their feet before they could get themselves together.

I kicked off my heels, letting them tumble into the crowd as I tugged my jeans off with the beat, leaving me in a black, racy lace bra and matching panties.

Good God, Genevieve would be proud of me. I rolled my hips, slowly turning my body in a circle before I swiped a bottle of Bourbon off of a table. I took a shot then poured it, letting the liquid run off my body. The crowd flocked to the bottom of the stage, lapping up the river of alcohol like it was water. Between the smears of the silver drug on my body, the high from the dance, and the alcohol, I felt like I was on Cloud 9. I downed the rest of the bottle before turning backwards and letting my body fall, the crowd running their hands all over my half naked body as they carried me over the sea of people. I let more of the alcohol tip from the bottle, all of us a mess of silver and stickiness.

Heaven and Aaron were still tugging Jamie out of the door, who hadn't taken his eyes off me since I'd slipped off my shirt. They were finally out the door. _Good, the hard part is over, _I thought to myself. _Let's see how long we can keep this up._


	25. Lost

**~Jamie POV~**

* * *

The rush of cool air that washed over my face as we dragged the bodyguard out into the alley did nothing for my blazing cheeks and the sweat that had accumulated on my hairline from watching Hazel. My heart was racing a thousand miles a minute, a deep, burning fire starting in the pit of my stomach as envy boiled through me, the thought of all those creatures with their hands on her nearly naked body making me want to cringe. God, she was just...

"Jesus Christ she is sexy." Darren panted, tossing the bodyguard onto the ground near a pile of trash. He bent over, trying to catch his breath as he shook his head. "Didn't know she had it in her."

I shoved past him, clenching my jaw as I crouched down over the bodyguard and tore the tape from his mouth.

"I won't say a thing." he hissed quickly, before I could get a word in. I frowned at him, watching as he writhed on the ground like a fish out of water.

"Oh?" I pulled Michael out of the strap on my back, holding the tube vertically, only a centimeter away from his face. "_Michael."_

The blade exploded, cutting a line clean through the concrete as chunks of gravel flew up and hit the boy in the face, his eyes wides.

"I suggest you open your mouth," Heaven ordered, loading her crossbow behind me. "Or things could get very, very difficult..."

"For _you_." I finished, staring at the boys dark green eyes. They reminded me of Hazel's. I turned my face away from him, standing and walking towards Aaron, whose arms were crossed over his thick chest. Heaven, sensing my agitation, took my place at the boy's side, her crossbow pointed at his face.

"What's your boss doing here?"

"I don't know." the boy spat. Heaven sighed, shaking her head before asking again, only to get the same reply.

"Shoot him." I ordered, the boy's eyes going wide. Heaven stood, knitting her eyebrows at me before aiming the crossbow at one of the boy's tied arms.

"Don't!" He cried, trying to wiggle away.

"Talk, then." Heaven said evenly.

"I can't!"

"Shoot him." I ordered again, more firmly. Heaven chewed on the inside of her cheek and I sighed, moving past the rest of our group. I pulled the crossbow gently from Heaven's hand, patting her on the back a few times before aiming and shooting an arrow directly into the crook of the boy's elbow. He screamed, blood pooling along his brown skin as he tried to kick at me. His efforts were futile.

"Jamie!" Lucy hissed, horrified. I ignored her.

"Now, would you like to tell us what your boss is doing here?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" The boy screamed, his eyes wet. "I swear I don't know! He comes twice a week, just twice and sometimes he's happy, sometimes he isn't. Sometimes he takes out packages, I opened one once and he nearly killed me for it!"

"What was in it?" I ordered.

"I can't-"

Another arrow, this time to his thigh. The boy screamed again and Lucy turned away, facing the wall. I hated that she had to watch this, I hated that any of them had to see it knowing they didn't have the stomach's to handle it, but this was part of being a Shadowhunter. This was part of being fearless.

"Speak."

"It's a drug!" he screamed, his voice cracking. "I don't know, it's some kind of drug and it's supposed to , God I don't know what it's supposed to do-"

"Try to remember, my friend," I warned him. "I've got plenty of arrows with your name on them."

"I don't know, it's something with the fire girl they've all been talking about!"

"What fire girl?" I growled, my fists clenching.

"The one from the Carnival, they said they want the one from the Carnival but they're afraid!"

"Afraid of what!"

"They don't know if they can control her," the boy heaved, squeezing his eyes shut as I pulled the arrow from his elbow. "They're scared she'll kill them so they've been working on some sort of drug, it's supposed to change a rune or something, it's like what the son of Valentine did with the Mortal Cup. They're trying to reverse runes!"

"They're creating a new Binding rune." Heaven breathed, her eyes wide. The boy nodded, flickering his eyes back and forth between us.

"Why do they want her?" Darren asked. "Creto made it clear that he still despises Downworlders."

"He does, he hates them. All of our training is revolved around it, he's raised all of us to hate them-"

"Raised you?" Lucy turned.

"Oh my God, he's been doing this shit for years?" Darren grimaced, shaking his head in disgust. The boy simply frowned, laying his head back and staring at the dark sky above us.

"We get separated from our parents if they don' agree with Creto's Law. We get put into Institutions, trained, and then we go out and we kill Shadowhunters. It's what we do."

"They're exactly like us." Aaron murmured, staring at the boy sympathetically.

"Yeah, except we're not bat-shit fucking crazy." Darren spat.

"Why do they want Hazel?" I repeated, losing my patience. The thought of her half-naked body flashed through my mind again and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to ignore it.

"There's some prophecy, something about one of the Shadowhunters being better than the rest."

"What about him?"

"Creto's plan can't succeed if the Shadowhunter is still around to stop him. Creto can't kill him."

"So why would Hazel even be involved?"

"_Because she's the only one that can._"

I clenched my jaw, shaking my head.

"She would never turn on her friends, not like that."

"She would if she knew the truth about the Clave."

I knit my eyebrows together, turning to the rest of the group for some sort of sign that they understood what the bodyguard was talking about. They all looked just as confused as I was.

"The Purified Ones have been recruiting help for months now," The boy wheezed. "If you knew what that girl could do, what she _will _do to this world, you wouldn't want to be on her side either."

"But Cre-"

"Creto plans to kill her after he's done with her, that's been his promise to most of the Downworlders who-"

"Downworlders?!"

"For someone who was begging me to talk, you sure won't let me finish." the boy grumbled. I bit my lip. Downworlders were working with Creto. We didn't know who, we didn't know why, and we didn't know many. All we knew was that...

"Hazel's being hunted by Downworlders, too..." Lucy breathed. Heaven looked towards the club as Aaron and Darren rushed inside.

"And right now, she's in a building full of them."

I darted down the alley, following Heaven and Lucy through the door before the boy called out, stopping me. I turned to him, halfway inside of the door.

"Don't be fooled, Nephilim." The boy called. "Creto's been working with the Shadowhunters, too."

My heart dropped into the pit of my chest and I slammed the door shut behind me, shoving through the body of people with my friends. Heaven and Lucy were surging through the crowd, screaming out Hazel's name as Darren was throwing open curtain after curtain, exposing several naked couples and one drunk-off-her-ass old woman. They all yelled in protest, Darren not even stopping to apologize as he threw open the curtain to the General's booth.

It was empty.

I was searching the stage, flipping over table after table and finding nothing. Security was growing restless, several large men making their way towards us as our group collected itself behind the curtain of the stage.

"Nobody's in the bathroom," Lucy wheezed, a hand on her chest. "I can't find Anastasia anywhere."

"Not in the men's, either. They're not in the crowd, Jamie. They're not here."

"What are you talking about?"

"I ran all the way upstairs and even checked a few of the security cams," Heaven said quickly, worry filling her tone. "They said Stasi and Hazel disappeared twenty minutes ago."

"The General's gone too." Darren shot.

"And so is the woman he came here with."

Dread was filling my body as I gripped the stomach of my shirt tightly into my fist, unsure of why the room was spinning. We had lost our lead on the General. We still didn't know who he was with, or why he was with her. Both of my parents were dead, Shadwohunters were working with Creto, and worst of all, we had just lost two of our team idea of the girls being gone turned my insides to water, making me feel weaker than I had before. I thought of the curly hair, the bright eyes, the way I felt like I was invincible around her. I thought of her as my shield, my motivation for fighting so hard, a reason for living aside from being a Shadowhunter. But she, along with my cousin, had disappeared, and now I was left naked, vulnerable, and unarmored.

Anastasia was gone.

_And Hazel was gone with her._

* * *

**That concludes The Second Generation: Armored! How did you guys like it? Would you like a sequel? Read and review, leave comments (:**


	26. Sequel Sneak Peek

**Make sure you guys check out the sequel, The Next Generation: Rise of the Phoenix!**

* * *

**Prologue: **

_It's getting harder for me to control. I can feel it eating me alive, burning brighter with everything I feel, everything I know. Everything is all wrong. The Clave, the Angels, none of this is what we thought it was. The fire is consuming my soul, and if they're not careful, it will consume them too._

_We cannot stop it._

_We cannot fight it._

_We cannot change it._

_After all, a wise man once told me, "You cannot tame fire."_


End file.
